Ground Assault continued 



If you can treat the bite within 30 minutes, 

 household ammonia can counteract the acid in 

 your skin, says Wilmington pharmacist Hal King. 

 After that, he recommends using an 

 antihistamine. 



Treating a fire ant's mound takes a different 

 prescription. 



A fire ant colony operates much like a bee col- 

 ony, with a gueen ant in charge. She burrows 3 to 

 4 feet in the ground and has thousands of worker 

 ants to serve her. To destroy the mound, you must 

 kill the queen. 



Gas and dry chemical treatments work, but liq- 

 uid chemical applications do the job best, Harris 

 says. Check with a county agent or vector control 

 specialist for more information. 



Vacationers in Manteo will be glad to know that 

 fire ants haven't traveled that far north yet. But like 

 the rest of the coast, the area has plenty of ticks 

 and chiggers. 



Before you put away your beach blanket, read 

 on. 



"Ticks are more of a nuisance than anything," 

 says Chris Wise, a Dare County extension agent. 



"Basically they are pests," Wise says. They get 

 on your skin and walk around. Sometimes the 

 females decide to bite you and stick their sucking 

 parts into your skin, he adds. 



Try to determine if the tick is attached or not 

 before you try to remove it, Wise advises. Either 

 the tick will be stuck or the skin around it will be 

 red. 



If the tick is not attached, pull it off carefully and 

 burn it with a match or gas, or drown it in oil. 



If it's embedded, first try to pull it off gently with 

 tweezers, Wise says. If that doesn't work, rub oil or 

 petroleum jelly over the tick. That will suffocate it 

 and make it back out. 



Always clean your hands and the area where 

 the tick was, then use an antiseptic, Wise says. 



The chance of getting Rocky Mountain spotted 

 fever or Lyme disease from a tick is small, he says. 

 But be aware of ticks. If one has been embedded 

 for a long time and you get sick, see a doctor. 



The agent's best advice concerning ticks is to 

 initially prevent them from attaching. Repellents 

 are available. But Wise suggests wearing high-top 

 shoes and trousers in wooded areas. And he ad- 



vocates checking your skin and hair thoroughly 

 and regularly if you've been in areas where there 

 might be ticks. 



The beaches are relatively tick-free, but watch 

 out in the vegetated areas. Coastal pharmacists 

 say most of the people who ask about ticks are 

 hunters or campers. 



The same goes for chiggers, or red bugs. 



The tiny, bright red mite lives mostly in berry 

 patches, woodlands and pine straw, not in the 

 sand or grass, Wise says. 



An allergic reaction to the mite's saliva causes 

 the swelling and itching. If you scratch it, it could 

 become infected. 



To prevent chiggers, Wise suggests taking the 

 same precautions as with ticks. Wilmington phar- 

 macist Mike Costin says rubbing on a pine- 

 scented cleaner or an extract mixture helps keep 

 some chiggers off. Chigger repellents can help, 

 too. 



Pharmacist Hal King discourages using finger- 

 nail polish to kill chiggers. Petroleum jelly has the 

 same suffocating effect and is less harmful to your 

 skin, he says. 



If you get bitten, wash or pull off the chiggers. 

 Then use topical creams or calamine lotion to 

 reduce swelling and itching. 



As far as roaches go, Wise says they're the 

 most troublesome at the beach in cottages. To 

 keep them from spending a vacation with you, be 

 sure to keep food stored properly and all areas 

 clean. 



