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Marauding fire ants pose a risk to the bedridden residents of nursing homes
in the southeastern US. A team led by Richard deShazo of the University of
Mississippi has described two attacks on elderly patients—one of whom died
(Annals of Internal Medicine, vol 131, p 424). The ants were found
covering the victims, having swarmed up the legs of their beds. Their stings can
provoke a fatal allergic reaction. Fire ants arrived in the US from South
America 60 years ago and have since spread across the southeastern states.
“Unfortunately, sometimes humans are identified as food sources,” says
deShazo.