TheUCNow.com reported that fire ants have spread northward in Tennessee, putting people at risk in backyards and lawns.
Across the state, 87 counties are infested, including the entire Upper Cumberland area.
Here's what to know
According to University of Tennessee professor and extension urban entomologist Karen Vail, many people do not realize fire ants are present until they have disturbed a mound.
"For most people, you're standing in the yard," Vail told the outlet. "You don't realize you're actually stepping into a fire ant mound, and the ants will emerge in large numbers all at once and run up your leg and then bite first, get a good grab onto the skin, and then whip their abdomen around and inject that stinger."
Fire ants are more likely to turn up in open, grassy places than in heavily wooded areas. Homeowners can recognize them by the dome-shaped mounds they build and by features such as a two-segmented waist and a 10-segmented antenna, TheUCNow.com noted.
The insects often hitch a ride to new places in landscaping materials or heavy equipment, a reminder that human activity plays a role in how infestations develop. Wild animal encounters often have a human hand in them, too.
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More background
A sting usually causes a burning sensation followed by a pustule, though a small portion of people can suffer a much more serious reaction.
"For most people, say on average 97% of us, we're just going to get that fiery burning sensation and we'll have a pustule that forms," Vail told TheUCNow.com. "For that 1 to 3% that are hypersensitive, they can go into anaphylactic shock where they get low blood pressure, they may pass out, they may have difficulty breathing due to the allergic response to the venom."
Those at highest risk include people who are hypersensitive to the venom as well as the very young and very old, who may have a hard time getting away quickly or brushing ants off before they are stung multiple times.
Warm conditions make the ants more active, and rain can make their mounds easier to spot. The insects have been established in Tennessee for decades and are still expanding their range, TheUCNow.com reported.
What can be done?
Residents should look over lawns and other open ground for the ants' characteristic mounds, especially after rainfall when those mounds may be more visible.
Treatment should match how bad the infestation is. Bait works for individual mounds and if a yard has dozens of them per acre.
"We can eliminate what's on a property at one time, but then it's — we still have to keep inspecting because we'll have new fly-ins occurring," Vail said. "Those newly mated queens will land on a property and start the cycle over again."
Where can I learn more?
These articles elaborate on the spread of invasive ants.
• In Australia, red fire ants hospitalized 23 residents as infestations spread widely.
• In Mississippi, officials tracked invasive Asian needle ants whose sting can be deadly.
• Across the Southeast, experts warned deadly, venomous ants were expanding into homes and buildings.
• On Fraser Island in Australia, acid-spraying ants spread near a World Heritage Site.
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