Fire Ant bites are known to cause a sense of heat, pain, and intense itching.
When fire ant bites the skin, also injects venom called solenopsin in the body.
Characteristics Of Fire Ants.
- A**dult fire ants have a form of a**dult insects in general, its body is divided into three parts, namely the head, thorax and abdomen with three pairs of legs and a pair of antenna extend from its head.
- Fire ants are invasive species that live in the United States.
- The size of the fire ants vary, the workers are 2-3mm in size, army size 3-4mm, and the queen ant has the largest size of 6mm.
- Ant bites in general can cause irritation or minor swelling because when sting, ants will spray formic acid, unlike fire ants inject alkaloid venom which at each sting that caused an even greater effect.
Facts about fire ants.
Fire ants are a common name for some species of ants in the genus of Solenopsis.
However, only a minority of fire ants in the genus, which includes more than 200 Solenopsis species worldwide.
Solenopsis is a term for stinging ants and most live in tropical areas, such as Central and South America, as well as in some temperate climates, like parts of North America.
Fire ants are red or yellowish and has a body size of one to five millimeters.
When stinging, the fire ants insert poisons, which makes the skin itching, swelling, and redness. Pain occurs as small red bumps appear, immediately followed by the formation of clear blisters. The fluid in the blisters can be transformed into a murky, and the area became itchy, swollen, and painful.
If your throat feels narrows or short of breath after being stung by fire ants, immediately look for medical assistance.
How To Cope With Fire Ant Bite
Stay away from the mound of soil, which is a nest of ants.
Most of the cases the sting of fire ants occurred because people who accidentally step on or sit on a nest of ants and disrupts hundreds to thousands of fire ants which are ready to defend their nest. If start feeling stung, the first thing to do is stay away from the area as soon as possible.
Get rid of ants.
The fire ant using the lower jaws to bite the body ties up so it is difficult to get rid of. Instant lift and drop the fire ants to the ground one by one, or remove the ants were biting the skin with twigs or wood and other objects.
Wash the bite affected area.
Wash the bitten area using warm water and antibacterial soap. You can also try pressing the skin to release toxins. Alternatively, wash the bite with a solution of bleach is added to the water at the same comparison. If you can withstand the pain, wash the wound using alco**hol for ensuring the wound free from infection. Be sure to clean the wound as soon as possible, preferably within 10 minutes after the bite.
Compress.
Then compress the bite marks using ice cubes, or if there is nothing, you can use a cloth soaked in cold water.
Do not scratch the bite marks.
Poison of fire ants spread immediately and lead to a sense of burning and itching. Though it feels very itchy, do not scratch the bite marks because it will only make the infection spread to a wider area. Oral antihistamine medications may be needed for people who are allergic to fire ant bites.
Is there a remedy?
You can take one of the medicines such as paracetamol or ibuprofen or codein as anti pain, apply also with methylprednisolone 5% cream as a deterrent to the onset of inflammation in the bite area, taking cetirizine tablets to eliminate itching.
When arising pain unbearable, haze, nausea, and vomiting occurs, there is a decrease in consciousness, immediately go to the health service or hospital.
That is some way of handling when the fire ant bite.