Crabby, sorry to hear that you're in the hospital: "Nursing Home Patient Found Covered In Ants
Family Finds Victim
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., 12:04 p.m. EDT July
18, 2001 -- It may sound like the script for a horror
movie, but what happened to an elderly West Palm Beach
man was no film.
A woman who went
to visit her husband,
Titus Rolle, at the
Rehabilitation Center
of the Palm Beaches
found him covered in
fire ants.
He's now recovering
at Darcy Hall Nursing Center in West Palm Beach.
Rolle, 83, had lived at the rehabilitation center for three months. When his wife
visited him, she found ants all over his feet, arms, legs and face. Rolle had to be
rushed to the hospital for treatment.
Rolle suffers from Alzheimers disease and recently suffered from a stroke. He
was completely dependent on others for help.
The director of the rehab center told Eyewitness News 25 that residents are
checked every hour, and there was no evidence of ants in any other room. The
director added that this appeared to be an isolated incident.
Bruce Ide, with the University of Florida, said that ants tend to eat sugars,
meats or fats and can move quickly when a food source is found.
"They have chemical pheromones and signals that let them know 'Hey, I've
found food. Let's all go over there and chow down'," Ide said.
Ide said that fire ants don't normally attack people. Most humans are bitten
after stumbling into one of their nests. However, each ant colony can have more
than 250,000 ants.
"The ant injects formic acid in the bite that makes the welt," Ide said. "Enough
of that starts messing with our system."
If you've been bitten, Ide suggests applying ice right away to reduce swelling
and inflammation. However, if you get a number of bites, you may need medical
attention.
This isn't the first serious case of an ant attack in a Florida nursing home. Last
year, an 87-year-old woman died in Northport after suffering more than 1,600
ant bites. The facility where she was staying was banned from admitting new
patients for about two weeks.
A state investigation into Tuesday's ant attack is expected. |
