“Ants, mommy, ants” whimpered three-year-old Sonny as he scampered from the front lawn into his home. Sonny's face was twisted into a strange white. His frantic mother searched his little body. On his left foot swelled three ant bites. Twenty-nine hours later, Sonny was dead. The boy had become the rare victim of an allergic reaction to the vicious bite and sting of an imported fire ant. There is a treatment for the reaction. But few doctors even know the Imported fire ant exists. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recognizes the ant as an economic pest, hurting crops, land and birds. Now two Tulane University scientists have recognized it as a medical pest irritating many people sometimes killing. Dr Rodney C. Jung, a specialist In tropical medicine and Dr. Vincent J. Derbes, an allergist, do not believe the imported fire ant makes a huge or unusual medical problem. But until doctors understand the problem they may give wrong, useless treatment...

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