Fighting Fire Ants With a Virus of Their Own (1/2)

Farmers in parts of the United States have struggled for years with an invasion" class="hjdict" word="invasion" target=_blank>invasion of red imported fire ants from Brazil. These insects do major damage, unlike native kinds of fire ants. Each year they cause an estimated six billion dollars worth of damage in the United States. More than one billion dollars of that is just in Texas.

The ants are thought to have arrived in the southern state of Alabama in the 1920s or 30s. Since then they have spread northward and all the way to the West Coast. They ruin crops, damage soil and get into animal feed. They also damage electrical equipment and machinery. Not only that, they injure animals and workers. So farmers have to deal with medical costs and lost labor.

Fire ants get their name because when they sting, they inject poison into the skin that causes a feeling of intense" class="hjdict" word="intense" target=_blank>intense burning. Some people suffer life-threatening reactions.

Colonies of red imported fire ants can be found in cities as well as farming areas. They can go deep underground to survive periods of little or no rain. They have no native predators, no creatures that like to feed on them.