Woman Killed by Fire Ants After Stepping on Them at Her Home
A single fire ant sting sent her into anaphylactic shock.
Most people consider fire ants pests – but they can actually be deadly. When fire ants sting, they are actually injecting venom, causing anaphylactic shock in a small percentage of people. According to Bayer, which makes anti-fire-ant products, 10 to 15 percent of people stung by fire ants suffer severe allergic reactions to the bites – and 1 to 2 percent have dangerous reactions. This week, a Georgia woman was the latest fire ant casualty, after accidentally stepping on a pile of them.
Cathy Weed, 43, died on Saturday due to a severe allergic reaction to fire ants. "The cause and manner of death is still pending," Chad Johnson, an investigator with the Gwinnett County Medical Examiner's Office, told The Washington Post.
Kitt Miller, a family friend, told WAGA, a Fox affiliate in Atlanta, that a single fire ant bite triggered the fatal reaction. "One single fire ant bite was enough to send her into anaphylactic shock," Miller said.
Miller told WAGA that she hopes her friend's death is a reminder of the importance of having an EpiPen around. "The importance of having your EpiPen on you at all times, making sure your family knows where your EpiPen is, taking those preventive measures," Miller said. "So that, you know, hopefully something like this can be prevented."
Her family confirmed to WSAZ that "she stepped on an ant pile at her Lawrenceville home," and "had a severe allergy to fire ants, and they believe her reaction to getting bitten was so strong that she died before she could get to her medicine."
"The passing of Cathy has shocked us all, but in faith we move forward," the family wrote in her obituary.
She was also honored by her 15-year-old son's baseball team over the weekend. "His mom was everything to him, and he was 100%, even more so to her," Jason Johnson, the baseball team's coach.
"Cathy always had a smile on her face. She was always just so cheerful, always cheering on every boy on the team, not just her son," friend Zuhera Waite said. "We won't ever let him forget her," Waite said.
