MULTIPLE FIRE ANT STINGS INDOORS

The progressive spread and increasing colony density of imported fire ants throughout the southeastern United States will result in increasing numbers of individuals with untoward reactions to the stings of these insects. In order to alert physicians that imported fire ant colonies may exist within homes and other inhabited dwellings and result in multiple stings to the occupants and to provide information about the management of this problem, we report two cases where individuals were stung indoors by imported fire ants, One of these cases involved the attack of a bed-bound patient by a colony of ants. The other report documents the establishment of an intact fire ant colony within an inhabited dwelling. Physicians should become familiar with the biology of these insects to assist patients in dealing with this problem.