Clorox or ammonia. Run, don't walk to the house after you get bitten and put a dab on the bite. Apparently the ant poison is protein based and the bleach/ammonia breaks that down (or something like that). It's the difference between a small red welt and a pus filled, itchy blister.
Don't have fire ants around here that I know about, but it would appear that tincture of iodine works the same way in terms of chemically modifying the venom in a lot of insect bites. It's a little less drastic (corrosive) than Clorox or Ammonia.
Iodine seems to penetrate the skin a bit and I've found that it works pretty good on little puncture wounds in terms of disinfecting them. Also relieves the annoyance of paper cuts.
My mother taught me this stuff a looooong time ago.
My Mom would also smear iodine from the applicator over any unidentified itching with good effect. They say not to apply it over large areas, but it never bothered me to spread it over 3 or 4 square inches using the side of the applicator.
This is not medical advice --I'm only telling you my experience over 74 years.
Terry, 230RN
