Fire Ant Sting Descriptions

Stinging Event (Act)

(Stinging photo) A worker female fire ant in the act of stinging a human thumb.   Fire ants do not bite; they sting like wasps and bees.  They hold on with their mouthparts and inject venom into skin through a smooth - not barbed - stinger.

Lesion Development

(30 minute photo) There is a slight swollen bump where each sting occurred, surrounded by redness.

(1 hour photo) The bumps persist, and the surrounding redness gets deeper red.

(24 hours photo) A pustule is now present where each sting occurred.  Lesions are still surrounded by a deep red halo.

(72 hours photo) Pustules are at their peak, with a deep red halo, and some tissue death inside the tiny pustule domes.

(One week photo) By now the pustules have ulcerated; the red halo persists.

(One month) Only superficial scars remain where the stings occurred.

James Jarratt
Extension Entomologist

Jerome Goddard
Medical Entomologist