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Fire ants in Australia: a new medical and ecological hazard

Keith I McCubbin and John M Weiner
Med J Aust 2002; 176 (11): . || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2002.tb04547.x
Published online: 3 June 2002

"of insects . . . only the ants were troublesome . . . one green as a leaf and living upon trees where he built his nest . . . by bending the leaves together and glueing them . . . their stings were by some esteemd not much less painfull than those of a bee . . ."


  • 1 Fire Ant Control Centre, Queensland Department of Primary Industries, Brisbane, QLD.
  • 2 Department of Respiratory Medicine, St Vincent's Hospital, Fitzroy, VIC.


Correspondence: jmweiner@allergynet.com.au

Competing interests:

None declared.

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  • 2. Aboriginal Communities of the Northern Territory of Australia. Traditional bush medicines: an Aboriginal pharmacopoeia. Darwin: Northern Territory Government, 1990.
  • 3. Solley GO, Vanderwoude C, Knight GK. Anaphylaxis due to Red Imported Fire Ant sting. Med J Aust 2002; 176: 518-519. <eMJA Full text>
  • 4. Vanderwoude C, Scanlan JC, Sutherst RW. The likely range and uncontrolled rate of spread of Red Imported Fire Ants in Australia. Proceedings of the National Fire Ant Conference, University of Georgia, Athens; 24–26 March 2002. In press.
  • 5. Nattrass R, Vanderwoude C. A preliminary investigation of the ecological effects of Red Imported Fire Ants (Solenopsis invicta) in Brisbane. Ecological Management and Restoration 2001; 2: 521-523.
  • 6. Kemp SF, deShazo RD, Moffitt JE, et al. Expanding habitat of the imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta): a public health concern. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2000; 105: 683-691.
  • 7. Kompas T, Che N. An economic assessment of the potential costs of Red Imported Fire Ants in Australia. Report for Department of Primary Industries, Queensland, Canberra, August 2001. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics, 2001.
  • 8. Douglass R, Weiner J, Abramson M, O'Hehir R. Prevalence of severe ant venom allergy in southeastern Australia. J Allergy Clin Immunol 1998; 101: 129-131.
  • 9. Brown SGA, Wu Q-X, Kelsall GRH, et al. Fatal anaphylaxis following jack jumper ant sting in southern Tasmania. Med J Aust 2001; 175: 644-647. <eMJA Full text>

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