When I first moved to South Georgia several years ago, fire ants were one of the first unpleasant insects that I encountered. Up until that time in my life I had lived in the Northeast, so fire ants were simply something that I saw on the Discovery Channel. I also have to confess that once I initially landed in the Southeast, I didn’t pay much attention to the fire ants either. That is until I accidently stepped into one of their nests. It was at that time that I became painfully aware of their existence, and I do mean painfully aware. Here’s what happened:
When Fire Ants Attack
I was leaving my place of employment for lunch one day and had to walk across the lawn in order to get to my car. While I was walking to the car, I started rooting around in my purse for my car keys and wasn’t paying particular attention to the ground. At that point, I stepped directly into a large fire ant mound. Oh, and did I mention that I was wearing flats and a skirt that day? Within seconds my shoes, feet and bare legs were filled with very ticked off fire ants determined to exact their revenge on me with every means possible. I made a run for it and attempted to use a nearby garden hose to wash them off of my skin. It didn’t work because many of the fire ants had already sunk their mandibles into my skin. The water only seemed to aggravate them so I put down the hose and used my jacket to brush them off as best as I could. Once I got the majority of the fire ants off of me, the evidence of their bites was clear. My lower extremities were red, swollen and covered with bites. I felt a burning sensation that was similar to an intense sunburn. I also felt dizzy and sick. Thankfully, my place of employment at the time was a health care facility. So, I went back inside and sought treatment.
Treating Fire Ant Bites
The first thing that I had to do in order to treat the fire ant bites was wash affected areas with soap and water. Then I had to apply ice packs and take antihistamines in order to get rid of the swelling. Within 24 hours the bites turned into itchy, white pustules that stuck around for about a month. During that time, I was given antiseptic wipes to cleanse the area and help temporarily control the itching. Once the pustules broke or dried up, the itching went completely away and the bites healed. It took a few months for my body to completely recover from the fire ant attack.
Lessons Learned
In the years since my initial fire ant encounter, I have learned to pay more attention to where I walk. I also learned that in a pinch, a 50-50 mixture of household bleach and water will help minimize the itching of fire ant bites. I’ve also found that applying watered down rubbing alcohol to the affected areas is helpful in controlling the itch as well.
Killeen Gonzalez enjoys the great outdoors with her family. She has also worked in health care as a social worker.
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