How bad is an ant bite?

[MuskieBait]

I saw the ant starting the bite and plucked it off. Started off as the size of a mosquito bite...and an hour later, it was the size of a tooney. After 24 hours, it is now 7" x 4" area.

Time for antihistimine and hydrocortisone cream...

[OldTimer]

Man - that's on the high side of a normal reaction……… ouch.

http://www.acaai.org/allergist/allergies...lergy.aspx

My sister is very allergic to bee stings - but on her it only takes about half an hour to balloon up after a sting and she gets dizzy. She now carries an Epi-pen.

The fire ant problem must be worse in your area than down this way.....???? But I imagine it will slowly spread this way.

It was horrific at my parent's place in Florida.

OT

[tangledline]

Ken I receive a dozen red ant bites on an average trip to Tommy Thompson Park....
I would recommend that you get an epi pen and carry some of that cream
as you know the Toronto Islands have fire ants too.
the more I am bitten the less the bites seem to bother me....but I would not recommend this for you.
I see this as a sign you better be careful and most of all prepared.
allergic reactions can be fatal....so side on caution.

[zippyFX]

Youch and I was going to complain about my poison ivy!

[MuskieBait]

Yeah, I've been bitten at Center Island a few times before by those ants...but never this bad.

Strange thing is that I was bitten on the arm, chest and neck, but only the bite on the arm swelled up. The bites on my neck and chest stayed pretty small and look just like a regular mosquito bite.

Immunity can work either way...either repeated exposures lead to less reaction each time...or more reaction each time (allergic reaction). I'm still trying to figure out if this was just an odd case or if I really did develop an allergy against ant venom. It would such if it's a real allergy...which means fishing would be less fun from now on if I have to watch for ants all the time...

We shall see...

[Dave Bailey]

You might want to take an antihistamine before going out, it may forestall any reaction. I have an overactive immune system (it's tried to kill me twice by destroying my platelets), and my doctor said that I may wish to consider taking an antihistamine daily, whether I need it or not. My son, who has a host of allergies, recommended one called Novo-Pheniram, you have to ask for it at the pharmacy, it's not available on the shelf. And it works great! This spring my allergies were worse than I have ever had before, probably because we had a cool spring and a few warm days, so I suspect all the pollen came out at once instead of being staggered. Things were so bad a month ago that I almost cancelled going on our annual birding trip to Point Pelee, I just could do anything. I was taking 24 hour Aerius, 3 or 4 a day, and it wasn't helping much. Took the Novo-pheniram and it cleared up in a few hours. If I were you I would pick up a bottle and take one before venturing forth.

[west]

It usually goes away after 15 minutes for me when I get bit by red ants... that doesn't look right.

[smcs28]

um ow!

I didn't realize we had fire ants in Ontario.....I should watch out more.

[ifish]

Holy bump on the arm batman! One ant did that! I am going to have watch the ground I step on next time I pick a spot to fish. Who knew we had biting ants in Ontario.......

Fish On
IFish

[john20000]

It looks like the ant bite caused some surface bacteria to penetrate the skin and develop into cellulitis.