Fire Ant Bites

Non-Toxic
Fire Ant Bite Treatment
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KURIT for Fire Ant Bites

This fire ant bite treatment, we believe, is the best on the market. It is non-toxic, 100% natural and safe for kids. The U.S. military even uses it. It works not only on fire ant stings, but on all insect stings and bites. Give it a try. It's guaranteed to work. Money back, no questions asked.

The Body's Reaction

Allergic Reaction
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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.

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.

Fire Ant Bite Home Remedies

We have had many people send us their idea for home remedies for fire ant bites. You may want to check them out.

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.

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.