The Fire Ant Bite

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FireAnt Bites Burn

Oh boy, do they burn, which, as a matter of fact, is why they are called fire ants. About 40% of people in infested areas, or more than 20 million, are bitten each year by fire ants.

If You Just Got Bitten

Scrub and massage the area with soap and warm water.

If you can, try applying either the best fire ant bite remedy we have found, or one of the home remedies mentioned below. The fire ant toxins are 95 percent non-water soluble, so washing with water is only going to be marginally effective. Instead, we suggest vigorously massaging, but not scratching, the bite with anything that will neutralize the venom. You want to flush out as much of the toxins as possible. Please email us your feedback on how the various remedies work.

Next, elevate the extremity if possible.

Home Remedy for Treating Fire Ant Bites:

There are numerous home remedies for fire ant bites. We list some here for educational purposes only, with no guarantee that they will work.

Please Note: If you have an allergic reaction to fireant bites,
please seek medical attention, rather than trying a home remedy.

• Take an antihistamine (like Benadryl) to help prevent allergic reactions and swelling
  
  
• After washing the bites, quickly (within 15 minutes) apply:
  
  
  • Worcestershire sauce. Cover the bite(s) with a paper towel and saturate with the sauce. Read more.
  • Topical steroid cream such as a 1/4% or stronger hydrocortisone cream.
  • Baking soda and water (thick paste)
  • Bleach and water (half and half)
  • Meat tenderizer and water (thick paste)
  • Alcohol
  • Ammonia alone, or alternately applying ammonia and hydrogen peroxide with two rags, cotton balls, or paper towels.
  • Vinegar. (This is the suggested solution for use with box jellyfish.)
  • Crushed aspirin (thick paste). May help even after a day.
  • Salt (thick paste)
  • Tea Tree oil (may also be good for other insect bites, such as, chiggers, fleas and mosquitoes)
  • Aloe jell
  • Dishwashing liquid
  • Freshly cut onion

  These can reduce the pain and itching. You can carry a small spray bottle of one of these mixtures with you to use immediately if you know you will be in an infested area that is not close to the house.

• Apply an ice cube to reduce pain and itching


• Immediately apply USDA grade peppermint oil, then USDA grade lavender oil, repeatedly.

Read what others have said about these fire ant bite home remedies.

To Pop or Not to Pop the Pustules

There are two schools of thought about whether or not it is helpful to break open the pustules. One school says not to break them because it may invite infection. However, others say that the pustules must be broken open to release the toxins.

Our readers have reported that popping open the pustules has helped. If you do open them, thoroughly wash the area first. After popping them, spray the area with peroxide. Let it dry before applying anything else.

Here is what one reader had to say:
"After receiving 3 bites within 1 inch of each other on my hand, and one being between my fingers, my hand started to swell almost immediately. I was not able to apply anything until the following day. I am of the opinion 'break open the pustules". I sterilized a pin. Cleaned the area with soap and water and then with alcohol. After puncturing the pustule with the pin I gently pulled the skin to enlarge the pin hole slightly. Then using a cotton tip or q-tip I applied alcohol. I kept expressing the liquid for a few minutes and then reapplying the alcohol. I would rub the alcohol into the pustule opening that I created with the pin. BTW the itching was relieved instantly. After doing this several times and there was no longer any fluid coming from the opening I applied Calamine Lotion. Because of the location of the bites I could not apply a covering. But nonetheless this seems to work well for me. I hope others can benefit from my experience." - Joe Colao

Aftermath

Avoid scratching the pustule, which can lead to infections.

Severe allergic reactions to fire ants can be deadly. Seek medical attention immediately if you have any of these symptoms:

• severe chest pain
• severe sweating
• slurred speech
• loss of breath
• serious swelling
• nausea

Treat any bites that become infected.

Why do Fire Ant Stings Burn So Much?

Fire ants got their name because their sting literally burns like fire. Fire ant venom is much more potent than other insects' venom in that it contains a high concentration of piperidine, an alkaloid compound with a high pH that is 95% insoluble in water. Piperidine is related to piperine, the main active ingredient in black pepper. No wonder it burns! Fire ant venom also contains a smaller amount of protein than is normally found in stings. Scientists have been able to identify four separate proteins in the fire ant venom, two of which seem to be unique to fire ants.

The Process of a Fire Ant Bite

A fire ant bite is actually the result of a multiple step process.

A person or animal disturbing the nest will find they are swarmed with hundreds of ants. But you do not need to disturb the nest to get bitten.

After being disturbed, fire ants by nature will leave the nest and climb up anything they find.

Unfortunately, fire ants are so small, it's almost impossible to feel them climbing. These ants are tiny and therefore easy to miss. Since you can't feel them, you could have lots of them crawling on you, maybe under your socks or shirt, and not know it until they start biting.

After about 10 seconds of climbing, they will bite your skin. Interestingly, although everyone complains about fire ant bites, they are actually among the least of your worries, because it is the sting that comes next that really hurts. They bite the skin in order to get a good grip so they can inject their stinger through the skin. If you are fast, you can dislodge or kill the fire ants before they have time to sting.

After the female fire ant has anchored herself by biting into the skin with her mandibles, she then tucks her abdomen, which includes the stinger, under herself and plunges it into the skin. The ant's stinger then deposits a small amount of venom into the hapless victim.

As the first fire ant stings, it releases an alarm pheromone which excites other ants in the vicinity to also attack. This coordination results in a far more successful attack, as the victim is attacked in multiple locations simultaneously before even being alerted to the ants presence.

You will feel the stings, which feel like a bad mosquito bite at first, and quickly start to burn. Only the female ants are able to sting since the stinger is adapted from the ovipositor, or egg laying structure, which also occurs with bees and wasps.

Fire ants are known to sting, not once, but repeatedly even after their venom sac is empty. They do not voluntarily release their bite, but instead twist around and sting again. This is why you may see some stings occurring in a semi-circular pattern.

The fire ant attack is actually quite different than many other ant attacks. First, fire ants do not inject formic acid, which is common in other ants. Second, some other ants do not sting like the fire ants, but instead bite, and then squirt venom into the bite.

Fire Ant Bite Pictures

Usually have a white pustule, although not always.	They may simply be about a 1/4" raised red mound.	After several weeks.

The Body's Reaction

The body reacts to the venom by releasing histamine, which actually causes the pain, swelling and redness. Discomfort is felt within seconds, and a small red welt will appear. The welts often will enlarge rapidly, leave a burning and itching sensation, and are usually, but not always, followed by the formation of a white pustule after anywhere from 6 to 24 hours.

Allergic Reaction
See Enlarged Picture

About 15% of people who are stung have an allergy to fire ant bites. They can react quite strongly, often suffering from chest pains, nausea, dizziness, hives, swelling, shock or, in rare cases, lapsing into a coma. Although extremely rare, some deaths have been documented as having been caused by fireant stings. A imported fire ant vaccine is available which can help desensitize people to the venom.

The bites, if not quickly treated with something like the toxin neutralizer we recommend, may take up to several weeks to disappear. The blisters become itchy and are prone to infection if they are broken. If they are not properly cleaned or treated, they may cause an infection or leave permanent scarring.

Because of this, and occasional stories of humans or animals being killed by multiple stings, people have a fear fireants. (No kidding!) In some areas of infestation, playgrounds, parks and picnic areas go unused because of the presence of fireants.

Prevention

The best way to avoid fire ant bites is to avoid fire ants. Unfortunately, that is not always possible.

One idea we read suggested that you might try dusting your legs, shoes and socks, or tall rubber boots with talc or talcum powder. This simply makes it difficult for the fire ants to climb up on you, thereby making it impossible for them to sting you. Teflon coated shoes sound like the best answer, which actually is a darn good idea!

Of course, it's even easier to prevent fire ant bites if there are no fire ants in the vicinity. For that, check out our page about killing fire ants.

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