Insect Allergy in Australia: Results of a Five‐year Survey1

Allergic reactions to the Australian paralysis tick, Ixodes holocyclus: diagnostic evaluation by skin test and radioimmunoassay

“…Tick-bite reactions include the effects ofthe paralysing toxin from which it derives its common name [2][3][4][5][6][7], inflammatory and allergic reactions [8][9][10][11] and the transmission of rickettsiai and other infections [12,13].…”

Allergic Responses to Infectious Agents

“…Specific desensitization has proved useful and effective, it affords good protection against further stings with commercially available whole polyvalent insect body extracts in cases of both local and systemic reaction [30b, 60b, 80,95,104,177,330,353]. It is supposed that protective antibodies ofthe IgG and IgM types are formed [274a].…”

“…Inhaled with the air the dry excreta of these mites may elicit allergic phenom- 330 ena mainly in the respiratory tract [334,336]. House dust mites causing asthmallke attacks (even in children), are sometimes responsible for atopic dermatitis, chronic urticaria and may induce even megalerythema epidemicum (erythema toxicum) [264].…”

Anaphylaxis to bull dog ant and jumper ant stings around Perth, Western Australia

“…From a clinical perspective the important Myrmecia species are the smaller (10–12 mm) ‘jumper ants’ of the pilosula and nigrocincta species groups, and the larger (15–25 mm) ‘bull dog ants’ of the gulosa species group. The available data indicate that jumper ants, predominantly the ‘jack jumper’ ( Myrmecia pilosula species complex) and to a much lesser extent Myrmecia nigrocincta are the most important causes of ant sting anaphylaxis from southern Queensland through New South Wales and Victoria to the Adelaide Hills of South Australia, and Tasmania 1,2 , 4,6–11 . With regard to bull dog ants, Myrmecia forficata causes anaphylaxis in Tasmania, 2 and Myrmecia pyriformis appears to be important in rural Victoria although this has not been confirmed by formal insect species identification 1 .…”

“…The available data indicate that jumper ants, predominantly the 'jack jumper' ( Myrmecia pilosula species complex) and to a much lesser extent Myrmecia nigrocincta are the most important causes of ant sting anaphylaxis from southern Queensland through New South Wales and Victoria to the Adelaide Hills of South Australia, and Tasmania. 1,2,4,[6][7][8][9][10][11] With regard to bull dog ants, Myrmecia forficata causes anaphylaxis in Tasmania, 2 and Myrmecia pyriformis appears to be important in rural Victoria although this has not been confirmed by formal insect species identification. 1 The species of bull dog ants causing anaphylaxis in South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland have not been determined.…”