Impacts on the USA

Urban Problems (Direct)

Medical

• Life threatening
• Secondary infections
• Cosmetic - leaves discolouration of skin over a long period
• Chances of being stung are high with 89.1% of the people living in a fire ant infested area being stung

Nuisance

• Stings uncomfortable
• Fear of sting deter activities
• Invasion of stored food or home
• Can be found even indoors nesting in houses
• Avoid activities and places that will put people into contact with the fire ant

Economic

• Reduce property value
• Structural damage
• Electrical equipment damage - for some unknown reason fire ant numbers build up near wires, contact points, fuses and switches. As a result they cause short circuits, which can lead to fires or damage to equipment.
• Problems with pets and animals - many pets are also stung. Newborn or young animals are especially at risk of being stung and killed. Ants are attracted to the mucous areas and wounds. They often sting near the anus, urinary tract or eyes. (Stings near the eyes can cause blindness).
• In urban areas such as Dallas, Houston, San Antonia, Austin and Fort Worth, the estimate for impact is $600 million (US) annually, and $300 million of that is the amount of products people are buying to try to manage the problem.

Urban Problems (Indirect)

• Pesticide overuse - the most effective available products only provide relief for a 6 - 12 month period.
• Expense and time with non-effective produces.
• Expense and time on only temporary management.
• In the USA there can be 50 million ants per hectare. With these numbers, any activity the ant engages in will have other types of IMPACTS as well.

Agricultural Problems (Direct)

Domestic Animals

• death
• blindness
• vet expense
• poor animal quality (weight)

Crops

• damage to or removal of seeds
• damage to roots, tubers, stems and fruit
• mounds interfere with mechanical harvest
• stop hand labour
• damage to irrigations systems

Agricultural Problems (Indirect)

• opting not to produce a product due to fire ants
• expenses in use of control measures
• in agriculture the estimate of impact is $90 million US annually

Wildlife Problems

• Damage to seeds and plants by feeding directly on some and tunnelling through others.
• Become dominant invertebrate predator (meaning eat ants, ticks, weevils etc)
• Alter ecological balance
• Impact endangered species
• Interfere with hunting and fishing
• Reduce use of parks and recreational areas
• Reduce tourism - as they can become more numerous along hiking trails and camping sites because of the added resources left behind by human activities

Industrial Problems

Impact the function of equipment involved in:

• communication
• electrical distribution
• transportation (traffic control)
• cooling as they are attracted to these areas for some unknown reason.
• short circuits can lead to fire
• affect the economic well being of certain industries such as tourism and agricultural production
• fire ants in hotels and businesses.

The political problems of who should deal with the ant and how it should be controlled are also important.