Summer fun doesn’t come without dangers. When the sun comes out, so do a lot ofstingers. “While many bee pollinators are active only in early spring, honeybees and bumblebeesare active all summer,” said Keith Delaplane, a University of Georgia ExtensionService entomologist. “Its sting burns for a few minutes, then starts itching,” Sparks said. “Then a whitepustule forms within several hours of a sting.” If fire ants sting you, treat the area with an approved insect-bite remedy that not onlydeadens pain but provides infection protection. Sting-Kill External Anesthetic, whichcontains benzocaine, is one such product. “Fire ants inflict pain,” said UGA entomologist Beverly Sparks. “They actually bite (tohold on) and then sting — that’s the part that hurts.” If you are allergic to bee stings, carry a sting kit at all times. Most other stings can betreated with a topical ointment such as Benadryl. Don’t swat at stinging insects. Swatting a bee just agitates it more. Delaplanerecommends you walk — or run — away and don’t waste time with fruitless anddangerous swatting. How do you avoid being stung? Wasps and yellow jackets are another matter. In spite of folk tales, most stinging insects are equally potent. Think bees are the only summer stingers? Think again. In Georgia, it’s not bees you have to watch out for. It’s wasps. It’s their behavior that gives them away. “They become more numerous and problematic toward the end of summer,” Delaplanesaid. “The best control is to treat individual nests. The earlier in summer the better.”
A fire ant sting is different from other ants. “It depends more on the individual than the bee,” Delaplane said. “For somebeekeepers, honeybee stings are practically nothing. But for those same people, a waspsting can be very painful.” “Most people call any stinging insect a bee,” Delaplane said. “True bees are valuablepollinators and rarely warrant control. A live-and-let-live approach is far better.” “Walking barefoot in clover is a risk,” Delaplane said. “If you encounter bees onflowers, simply leave them alone and enjoy watching them. If you see a bumblebeenest, avoid it. It will die out in the fall.” Commercial sprays are best for controlling wasps and yellow jackets. “If you swell and feel pain at a sting site, it’s not an allergic reaction,” he said. “It’s anormal reaction. An allergic reaction includes sweating, dizziness, light-headedness,shaking, convulsions and more serious symptoms — reactions suffered by a very smallfraction of the population.” Some people may have bad reactions to any bee sting. “Many ants are the shape and size of a fire ant, and unless you have a good hand lensor microscope it’s hard to tell these ants apart,” Sparks said. “If you see a large, turtle-shaped mound with no obvious entry point and when youdisturb the mound, hundreds of ants respond very quickly, you can be sure they’re fireants,” Sparks said. “Some people react severely to fire ant stings,” Sparks said. “They should see aphysician immediately.” Not all ant stings are as painful as a fire ant’s. Allergic reactions to fire ant stings may include chest pains, nausea or lapsing into acoma.
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