Master Wang, who was bitten by a red ant, had a red and swollen back
Red ants are small and climb very fast
A field path at the junction of Tangwan and Xuwan in Qianjin Village, Yuxian Street, Caidian District, Wuhan, is about 100 meters long and less than 3 meters wide, and there is a red ant on the road that occasionally attacks and bites pedestrians. Some people speculate that this group of uninvited guests is an invasive alien species of red fire ants. It is reported that being bitten by a red fire ant can cause shock if severe. What species do these ants belong to? Where did it come from? Will it have an impact on people's work lives? Recently, some netizens reflected the above questions to this newspaper. From October 17 to 22, a reporter from the Wuhan Evening News went to the scene of the incident twice to investigate.
Villagers were bitten by red ants
Difficulty breathing, multiple redness and swelling of the body are sent to the hospital for emergency treatment
Qianjin Village, Yuxian Subdistrict, Caidian District, is where 48-year-old Wang Jun grew up. On September 6 this year, on a field path about 3 meters wide and about 100 meters long at the junction of Xuwan and Tangwan in Qianjin Village, Wang Jun casually removed the shaded bucket and placed it on the ground when he was working in the field as usual. After the end of the day's labor, Wang Jun picked up the bucket and put it on his head, and hundreds of red ants fell on him, and Wang Jun suddenly felt unbearable pain in his body.
There were so many ants that it was too late to shake them all off, so Wang Jun was in a hurry, jumped into the pond next to the field, and only then washed away the ants on his body. Even so, Wang Jun still had difficulty breathing after being bitten, and there were many redness and swelling on his body, and he was sent to the Zhongfa Xincheng Branch of Tongji Hospital, where he gradually recovered after emergency treatment. In his medical records, the condition is clearly stated - ant bites.
Attacks have occurred one after another
The ants only started appearing in the fields last year
Wang Qing is Wang Jun's son and is 28 years old this year. He was also attacked twice by red ants in the same place and was sent to the hospital on September 26 and October 17.
On the morning of October 17, Wang Qing came to a field covered with red ants, the fish pond needed to be drained, and Wang Qing squatted on the ground to set up a pipeline. Because he did not wear long rain boots for protection, Wang Qing squatted on the ground for only 10 minutes, and suddenly there was a burning sensation in his body, and Wang Qing knew that he had once again been attacked by red ants.
At 4 p.m. on October 17, the reporter saw that although 8 hours had passed, Wang Qing's waist was still partially raised. "This time it's much better, it's not as uncomfortable as last time." Wang Qing said that the last attack occurred on September 26, when he accidentally stepped into the nest of red ants and was attacked by ants.
With his father's rescue experience, Wang Qing was sent to tongji Hospital's Zhongfa Xincheng Branch for drug injection treatment after being attacked by red ants twice, and the treatment cost was more than 2,000 yuan for each treatment.
In Wang Jun's impression, red ants appeared in the field last year and had not been seen before. He noticed that the red ant's nest could reach up to 60 centimeters.
Preliminary judgment of experts
Red ants are highly similar in appearance to red fire ants
After observing the ants, Wang Qing and his father searched through the Internet and suspected that the red ants that caused the accident were red fire ants, and they purchased 18 bags of drugs to control red fire ants in two batches. "We don't know how effective it will be, and we hope that the relevant departments will guide us." Wang Jun said.
On October 17 and 22, the reporter came to the scene of the accident twice and sprayed the ants that caused the accident with insecticidal spray, and the ants died within 3 minutes. The reporter saw that on the field path with red ants, an average of about 5 meters is an ant nest, and the size of the nest varies, of which the larger nest is about 0.4 meters in diameter and about 0.3 meters high.
The reporter searched and found that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs had released relevant information about red fire ants through the official website. Red fire ants are similar in appearance to general ants, but are larger, with soldier ants 3–6 mm long. Red fire ants originate in South America, including countries such as Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. The nest of the red fire ant matures is prominently ridged, and the soil is piled up to form an anthill 10-30 cm high and 30-50 cm in diameter.
Li Jingjian, an ant expert and chief engineer of Wuhan Termite Control Institute, and an ant expert from Huazhong Agricultural University jointly looked at the photos of red ants and preliminarily judged that red ants were highly similar in appearance to foreign ant species red fire ants.
2% have an allergic reaction to the red fire ant venom
Severe can lead to shock
According to experts, red fire ants generally like to nest in sunny garden green areas, farmland mounds, wasteland, grass, garbage dumps, orchards and other places, and bite and hurt people when they are disturbed by human activities, especially when they unconsciously touch the nest. Setting up warning signs around the nest of red fire ants, not actively destroying the nest, wearing rain boots, etc., can reduce the chance of being bitten by red fire ants. Red fire ants destroy the ecological environment, damage infrastructure, and can endanger power supply equipment, telecommunications equipment and embankments.
Experts say that about 2% of people have an allergic reaction to the red fire ant venom, and fever may occur after being bitten, which can lead to shock in severe cases. Therefore, bitten people who have an allergic reaction need to go to the hospital for treatment in time.
Hubei has not previously received reports of red fire ants
The street office has joined hands with the epidemic prevention department to intervene
According to experts, in China, the red fire ant is one of the invasive organisms. Previously, there were no reports of red fire ants in Hubei Province.
In June 2018, the General Office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs issued the National Directory of Administrative Regions for the Distribution of Quarantine Pests of Agricultural Plants, and red fire ants are distributed in 11 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, including Zhejiang, Fujian and Chongqing.
The eradication of red fire ant nests is usually carried out using bait traps and potent nesting. At present, the Yuxian Street Office of Caidian District has confirmed that the ants hurt people, and at the same time, the joint health and epidemic prevention department collected red ant specimens for analysis, where the red ants come from, whether they are red fire ants, it is still impossible to confirm. (At the request of the parties, Wang Jun and Wang Qing are pseudonyms)
Source: Wuhan Evening News
Edit: Charlotte