Indoor fire ant sting attacks: a risk for frail elders

The American Journal of the Medical Sciences
Michael R Rupp, Richard D deShazo

Abstract

We have previously reported 10 indoor sting attacks by imported fire ants, most of which involved frail elderly people in the Southeastern United States. Since the range of these insects is expanding and attacks often attract media attention, we hypothesized that additional attacks of which we were unaware may have occurred and were reported in local newspapers. We searched the archives from 1989 until 2004 of 182 US newspapers in fire ant endemic areas in 10 states. Ten additional cases of indoor fire ant sting attacks were reported in local newspapers between 1991 and 2004. This brings the total to 16 attacks on adults and four on infants. Most adult attacks occurred in long-term care facilities, but three involved hospitalized patients. Morbidity ranged from nightmares to death in seven adults. One of the infants died and two suffered long-term morbidity. Six of the 20 sting victims died within 1 week of the attack. Seven of the 10 attacks reported in newspapers did not result in significant medical consequences, as compared with only two of the 10 attacks in previously published reports. Increasing numbers of indoor fire ant sting attacks are occurring in the United States, and frail elderly people and infants are at risk. ...Continue Reading

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Citations

May 16, 2009·Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology : Official Publication of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology·Adrian G Letz, James M Quinn
Sep 26, 2008·Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology : Official Publication of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology·Courtney A JuddMichael S Tankersley
Sep 29, 2011·Annual Review of Entomology·Michael K Rust, Nan-Yao Su
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Nov 26, 2013·Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology : Official Publication of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology·April M ArseneauMichael S Tankersley
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Nov 20, 2012·Journal of Economic Entomology·Eleanor Spicer RiceJules Silverman
Aug 29, 2020·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Yen-Yue LinChih-Pin Chuu

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