Venomous Ants' Bites Sent Boy Into ICU!

Yeah! You read it right. That's nothing wrong with your eyes either. And of course this is not a lame joke. A few ants really sent a 13 ...

Yeah! You read it right. That's nothing wrong with your eyes either. And of course this is not a lame joke. A few ants really sent a 13 years old boy into the ICU, bed-ridden for at least a few hours. I'm really shocked to read it in The Star newspaper this morning. How could this be happening? I mean...it takes only a few tiny ants to send a relatively Goliath-sized boy (in the ants' view) sprawling in the hospital's ICU! I wonder if this is nature's latest warning against our intrusions? The wrath of mother nature?

Ouh..no!

Yesterday, this poor student-Low Kean Beng was admitted to the Seberang Jaya Hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) after being bitten by poisonous ants at his school compound in Jalan Raja Uda. So right now, these ants are terrorizing the school huh! You see, Kean Beng was taking shelter from the blazing heat under two shady trees at about 5.30p.m. on Monday. Then the ants started their assault on him. Suddenly poor Ah Beng felt sharp stings on his hand and leg...and that's when all hell break lose for our Ah Beng!

Is this the culprit?

The nightmare started with itchiness and became serious with Ah Beng feeling dizzy and feverish! Ah Beng's limbs started to swell and eventually he vomitted. Shit! What kinds of ants are they? Luckily one of the school staff members was kind enough to send him to the hospital! But the worse comes to worst. Doctors needed to know which species of ants actually stung Ah Beng so that they could prescribed the suitable antidote to save Ah Beng's vanishing life! The clock is ticking, can Ah Beng's dad managed to find the correct culprits-ants? What if the ants had evanesced?

Which tree?

Ah Beng's dad rattled back to the school hoping he could grab a few ants to salvage his son's life! He searched the whole school yard but he still couldn't locate the ants. When hopes seems to be fading away...suddenly he sensed something is crawling on his skin...the ANTS!!! Off he zoomed back to the hospital to rescue his little boy. Could he make it? Or would his effort turned futile?

This fly could be you...

...Of course this story has a happy ending. Ha :D Ah Beng's dad managed to get back just in time and the doctor could administer the proper antidote for him. In the end, poor Ah Beng was discharged after about 3 hours when his condition stabilised upon being given not 1, not 2 but 3 injections! OMG! Those ants are really serious about killing Ah Beng huh. Too bad, their endeavour was foiled.

This is what Semut Selangor looks like!

And the ants which were identified as the evildoers are known locally as semut Selangor (tetraponera rufonigra). And these lethal ants could be found on dry tree trunks and branches in tropical countries, especially South-East Asia. Of course not all are venomous. Then again...did someone actually applied venoms onto the ants' mandibles in order to get rid of Ah Beng? Maybe due to some rivarly with his dad? We need to bring in the CSIs! Seriously! Or is Ant Man behind all this chaos?

I didn't know we have this Superhero!

Ok! I have to admit that I had fabricated and retouched the original story to a certain extent! Yeah, I wanna add in more spices to make it sound...incredulous? I've exaggerated it to make it a little melodramatic! Ha :D Anyway this is still a true story. Read the original story from The Star here! Sorry for misleading you guys moments ago! Honestly I'm glad there is no fatality in this freak incident.

This is the real photo borrowed from The Star!

This reminds me of the ant's bite that both my dearest wife and me suffered not too long ago. A few weeks ago, my wife's leg was bitten by a tiny, whinny harmless-looking ant. Moments later her leg started to itch and then voila it swelled! My wife actually had to break the "bubble" so that it could heal faster. But then, teh damage was still there because my wife could still felt the nagging itch. Then later, I was the next victim. I was bitten by this cute, little red ant. I have no idea at all how it could crawl all the way onto my arm and sank its "fangs" into my flesh. Then the same thing happend...the must-have itching and swelling...the rest is history...

So guys, please beware of these little menace ok. You'll never know what they are capable of. The worst thing is you might get killed by them, maybe because of allergic. Don't let your guards down and never let their "cute" form-factor fool you, because in their eyes we are only a piece of meat! Ha :D