CCTV news: During the Qingming holiday, many people have arranged travel or plans to travel in the suburbs. However, it is worth noting that as the temperature rises, various insects have also entered an active period, including a species called red fire ants.
Red fire ants are not the same as ordinary ants, don't look at its small body, but extremely aggressive, after being bitten, it will cause symptoms such as redness, swelling, pain, itching, etc., and even lead to infection. In the past two days, in many places in Guangdong, many people have encountered this extremely dangerous ants.
Some time ago, Aunt Liao of Xiuzhu Village, Xiyang Town, Meizhou City, Guangdong Province, went home with her family after cutting grass in the village, but unexpectedly, she had just walked down the mountain, but her eyes were black and she suddenly fell to the ground. Villagers came to help and called the 120 emergency number.
Villager: The doctor is experienced, came to see, he said it may be a red fire ant, after the stretcher was lifted, immediately injected, received oxygen.
The doctor gave Aunt Liao anti-allergic drugs in time in the car, and after treatment, Aunt Liao eased up. The doctor found two small wounds on her right wrist and yellow blisters, and the culprit was the red fire ant.
The reporter saw in the village that there were countless red fire ants in the doorway where the villagers usually entered and exited, and in addition, the roadside and the field were full of nests of red fire ants.
In Zhaoqing East Lake Park in Guangdong Province, the reporter has been walking along the grass by the lake, less than 100 meters away there are about 4 or 5 slightly raised yellow mounds, which is the nest of red fire ants, if someone accidentally steps on it, there will be hundreds of red fire ants crawling out of it.
Pest control personnel Xiao Donna: Weak people will have allergies after being bitten, such as breathing difficulties, blood pressure drop, dizziness and fatigue, fainting or cramps, and severe death. If we are bitten at home, the easiest way is to wash the stung skin with soapy water and hand sanitizer, and then try to squeeze out the venom from the wound.
Native to South American countries such as Brazil and Argentina, the red fire ant is an authentic invasive organism that was first discovered in mainland China in 2004 and then spread in china at an alarming rate. So how much "lethality" is the red fire ant? And what harm will it cause?
Unlike the common ants in China, the red fire ant is very fierce, and everywhere it goes, not only can the local species not survive, but even arthropods that are much larger than them will become their targets. It is understood that winged red fire ant queens can fly 1 kilometers or more and choose suitable locations to build ant nests. Once the range of activity spreads, the red fire ant is likely to take root in the local area.
Green belts and mounds near the roots of trees are the most common nests of red fire ants. Spring and summer are repeated and rain is more, which is the peak of the large number of red fire ants. If you remove the mound, the red fire ants will immediately "swarming out". Unlike ordinary ants, the red fire ant venom sac has a large amount of venom, and once bitten, the venom will be injected into the skin.
Red fire ants prefer warm places and can also cause harm to some equipment, such as attacking important electrical equipment such as car engines and transformers that have not been running for a long time. In addition, red fire ants are also harmful to agricultural and forestry crops, which will lead to crop yield reductions.
Lu Yongyue, director of the Red Fire Ant Research Center of South China Agricultural University: The invading area continues to expand, and it continues to expand to the northerner and westerner regions. At present, it has invaded the first line of Hangzhou, Hubei Xiaogan, Chongqing Yuzhong, Sichuan Guangyuan and other lines in Zhejiang, and the northernmost area has approached the Qinling region.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, at present, red fire ants have spread to 435 counties and municipalities in 12 provinces in China. In particular, in the past five years, 191 new red fire ants have occurred in county-level administrative districts, which has doubled compared with 2016. Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Transport and other nine departments jointly launched the red fire ant prevention and control action.
Affected by the news of the invasion of many provinces in China by red fire ants, recently, the concept stocks related to pest control in the A-share market have risen significantly, of which Red Sun and Sinochem International have risen by 11.86% and 10.04% respectively this week, and enneason shares and Norpuxin have also risen by more than 3%.
In fact, in addition to the red fire ant, which is known as the "ecological killer", in recent years, invasive alien species have repeatedly appeared in the case of "harming one party". A communiqué issued by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment in June 2020 showed that more than 660 invasive alien species had been detected nationwide.
Invasive alien species are related to China's agricultural production, international trade, ecosystems, and even the health of people and livestock, and it cannot be overemphasized. The prevention and control of invasive alien species is a systematic project, involving multiple departments, and it is necessary to shake your fingers into a fist to form a joint force. Only in this way can the spread trend be quickly controlled and the "endless pest" of invasive alien species can be avoided.
Source: CCTV