Va. shifts control of fire ants to localities in Hampton Roads

RICHMOND

Fire ants are here to stay, Hampton Roads.

And local governments will bear the burden of controlling the pest known for a stinging bite that, in rare cases, can cause serious illness or death.

Chemical treatments used to kill colonies of the creepy-crawlies no longer will be performed by state government.

That shift came as part of a larger announcement Wednesday about a temporary quarantine being placed on 11 localities where the insect population has rapidly expanded in spite of eradication efforts.

The quarantine prohibits the movement of plants, timber materials and used farm equipment outside the area until they have been inspected and determined to be free of fire ants.

"Policing the quarantine will be difficult, but we'll do the best we can," Larry Nichols, program manager for the state Office of Plant and Pest Services, said in Virginia Beach on Wednesday.

Several nursery operators said they don't expect the quarantine to hurt their businesses. Two said they had already begun working on compliance agreements that would allow them to continue shipping goods outside the quarantined area.

The state Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services is expected to make the quarantine permanent later this summer.

Perhaps the more direct effect will be on parks and recreation departments and school divisions, left to deal with the insects whose management had been a state responsibility.

"We had a feeling this was coming, so we started developing a treatment policy," said Frank Fentress, Virginia Beach's landscape management operations coordinator.

The details are still being worked out.

Treating parks and fields presents a new challenge for Norfolk and Virginia Beach, which rarely, if ever, applied the chemicals, officials said.

A Chesapeake official said the city has done some applications in the past but left others to the state. A Suffolk spokeswoman did not return a call seeking comment.

In Portsmouth, a spokeswoman said the city will address fire-ant populations on city land, but on private property, residents are on their own. That could present problems, because many private pest control companies lack technicians who are trained and certified to deal with fire ants.

"The challenge of moving from the government taking care of fire ants to the private sector taking care of fire ants is that many of our members don't have the experience doing it because they've never had to do it before," said Andrea Coron, executive director of the Virginia Pest Management Association.

Another concern is that some pesticides aren't available in Virginia because manufacturers haven't registered them yet, Coron added.

Fire ants were accidentally introduced to the United States in the 1930s in Alabama and were discovered in Virginia in 1989 in Hampton, according to the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Twelve other states, including North Carolina, are infested.

Despite state efforts to eliminate the pests, their numbers appear to be growing.

Virginia pest control officials had treated an average of about 30 fire ant sites annually until last year, when the state treated 642 sites during a six-month period.

"What that says to us is these populations are now established in the area and we simply can't try to go out and eradicate every site," said Elaine Lidholm, a spokeswoman for the agriculture department.

State workers will continue treating fire ant infestations outside the region in hopes of preventing the insects from spreading farther.

The best treatment is a bait containing slow-acting insecticide, rather than a poison that kills on contact, Lidholm said. That's because worker ants will quickly move their queen if the colony is disturbed.

Researchers in Texas are experimenting with a parasitic fly that infects the ants and turns them into "zombies" before finally killing them.

But the colonies are persistent.

"They're so marvelously good about being transported and surviving that whole business once they get established," warned Dini Miller, a Virginia Tech associate professor whose expertise is in urban pest management.

The ants can pack a nasty punch.

First, a fire ant latches on to its victim. Then it administers a sting that contains a small dose of venom.

Typically, the bites will develop into a blister and then a pustule, explained Dr. Maripaz Morales, an allergist and immunologist at Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters in Norfolk.

While the toxin can be harmful to children, small pets and even sensitive adults, Morales said a harsh reaction to a fire ant sting is the exception, not the rule.

In extreme cases, fire ant bites can cause anaphylactic shock that can restrict breathing and even cause death.

Three years ago, stings from the insects caused the death of a 30-year-old Virginia Beach man.

Morales said that anyone who suffers a fire ant sting should consult a physician.

Pilot writers Ricardo Lopez, Meghan Hoyer and Michael White contributed to this report.

Julian Walker, (804) 697-1564, julian.walker@pilotonline.com