THE National Fire Ant Eradication Program says people have reported to its own hotline 73 cases of fire ant stings, with 31 incidents needing hospital treatment and 10 requiring ambulance assistance during March in Southeast Queensland.
However, those figures differ significantly with those of The Queensland Health Department, which told The Tribune hospitalisation data for March and February would be unavailable for another six weeks.
The Department spokeswoman added: “In January 2025, in Southeast Queensland, there were less than three episodes of admitted patient care that mention being in contact with a fire ant.”
She said such data on fire ant treatment at hospital was hard to quantify as there were so few cases of presentations with fire ant sting symptoms.
The spokeswoman added that there were limitations on providing hospitalisation data as emergency presentations were treated and diagnosed based only on symptoms and that fire ant bites would likely be classified simply as an “insect bite”.
It was almost impossible to provide exact figures of hospitalisations, she said, because of these extremely low numbers of reported cases.
Meanwhile, the Fire Ant Eradication Program (NFAEP) has said the threat of fire ants rafting long distances is being exaggerated in the media.
Recent post-cyclone observations have reported large fire ant rafts in the Scenic Rim and northern Gold Coast, raising concern about movement into uninfested areas.
The ABC wrote of the “phenomenon that experts [warned] could see the venomous pests spread beyond the current containment zone in south-east Queensland”, while The Guardian said fire ants were rafting to “survive and travel on flood waters … [which] could sweep the highly invasive species into other parts of Australia”.
However, a study published in Austral Entomology on May 27, 2024, [https://shorturl.at/vcrxd] and referred to by the NFAEP itself examined the impact of flooding on the dispersal of solenopsis invicta (red imported fire ants).
Its conclusions showed flooding did not spread fire ants beyond known infestation boundaries, but did contribute to “localised” spread.
An NFAEP spokeswoman admitted the risks for fire ants infesting new areas solely due to rafting was low.
“While rafting has been observed in Southeast Queensland, our research indicates that it is not a major factor in the overall spread of fire ants,” an NFAEP spokeswoman said.
“Our research shows that most waterways flow into currently infested areas rather than carrying ants into new, uninfested areas.
“Fire ants typically raft together only as a last resort to survive slow-moving wet conditions.
“In scenarios where water moves too fast or colonies remain submerged for too long, the ants will not survive.”
