Thread: So sad!! 3 month old killed by ants........................

Susan Carroll and Judi Villa
The Arizona Republic
May. 19, 2003 08:45 PM


A 3-month-old baby girl was killed by ants while napping in a crib at a baby-sitter's home Monday afternoon, police said.

The caregiver, who has not been identified, put the infant down for a nap at about 1:30 p.m., said Phoenix police Detective Tony Morales.

When she went to check on the little girl a half-hour later, she was covered in ants and was in "severe respiratory distress," he said.

Autumn White had "hundreds of ant bites" on her legs and her throat was swollen, said Assistant Phoenix Fire Chief Bob Khan. She was not breathing when firefighters arrived at the home near 83rd Avenue and Mohave.

"A child that age probably just couldn't take the venom," Morales said.

Khan said the baby may have had an allergic reaction, with the poison from the ants causing her respiratory problems.

At least 40 deaths occur annually in the United States from reactions to insect stings. A severe allergic reaction, anaphylaxis, occurs in .5 to 5 percent of the country's population, according to the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology. Children and senior citizens are more vulnerable.

"Their resistance is less," Khan said. "They don't have the ability to recover like adults do."

Autumn was flown to St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center. After the little girl died, firefighters again were dispatched to the home, where the babysitter was so distraught that she was treated at the emergency room.

The black ants in the babysitter's home were about one-eighth-of-an-inch long and apparently crawled into the home between the carpeting and the wall, police said.

Neighbors in the new, upscale tract home development in Southwest Phoenix said they started noticing more ants when temperatures started rising.

Mark Cedre, 29, said for months the worst problem was the ants searching out "sugar in the pantry." But when he pulled up the carpet in his home this weekend to put in hardwood floors, Cedre found ants crawling along the foundation.

"I fumigated the whole thing," he said. "I was stomping all weekend, like a mariachi.

"My wife is nine months pregnant; she's due any moment," Cedre added. "She's freaking out. She wants the whole neighborhood fumigated now."

Black ants live in colonies much like bees and forage widely in search of food. Most ants have well-developed jaws and can bite.

Khan said that while it's "highly unusual" for a person to die from ant bites, it's very possible for a person to have an allergic reaction and, if serious enough, that could kill them.

Symptoms of an anaphylactic reaction include swelling of the lips, throat, ears, eyelids, palms and soles of the feet; hives; dizziness; wheezing or shortness of breath; and a sudden drop in blood pressure. Experts say without medical treatment anaphylactic shock can lead to death in less than an hour.

"It's like a bee sting," Khan said. "Your respiratory system freezes up and you're not able to breathe. It's like a real bad asthma attack."Lorena Nieto, 26, held her 14-month-old son on her hip Monday just down the street from where Autumn died and whispered to her baby: "It's scary, huh?"

I saw this on the news tonight. My DD is really allergic to fire ants, and this scares the $&!t out of me.

oh that poor angel, so sad.

That's so sad... but I thought black ants didn't bite...

Originally posted by Candice
That's so sad... but I thought black ants didn't bite...

The tiny black one's don't bite. The fire ants are bigger.
Here is what the black fire Ants look like.


I don't understand why that baby didn't scream out right after the first bite. Ant bites sting worse than a wasp in my opinion. I would think the first bite would have made that baby scream and they should have heard her. When a baby gets hurt the cry is different than say a dirty diaper cry or hunger cry. You know when a child is crying because of pain. It will make your hair stand up on the back of your neck. Surely to goodness the venom didn't work so fast that the baby didn't have time to even get out one scream.

My son was playing football last summer and we have them in the yard now. His hand landed in a nest of them and here is what the bites look like. It only took a second and he had about 20 bites on his hand.

Here is what a bite looks like.

Saw this on the news tonight too, I cried, it was so horrible!

There are so many things that are dangerous that you never even think of. My heart goes out to the family and the babysitter.

this is so sad

Man, that poor baby, I am with Kyla Kam, I can't believe the baby didn't scream?? Thats one reason I don't want to keep kids for a living, My kids old babysitter had one die of crib death at her house and there was a big investigation on her.......That is so sad............