antallergy.org

antallergy.org has launched an online petition to assist those whose lives are in danger through jack jumper stings.  Sponsored by Sue Napier, MHA, the petition has received a tremendous response from the Tasmanian community.

Over 3000 people have now signed the e-petition and the paper petition, which calls on the Tasmanian government to immediately allocate the funding necessary to provide life saving treatment to those Tasmanians at the greatest risk of death.

The petition further calls on the Tasmanian government to actively pursue collaborative arrangements with other State and Commonwealth Governments, to make this treatment available throughout Australia.

Paper Petition Now Available!

If you would like to download a copy of our paper based petition, please make sure you also read the accompanying instructions.

paper petition.pdf

A new TV documentary visits 7 of Australia’s deadliest destinations. They come to Tasmania to film the home of the most aggressive and deadly ants in the world - Jack Jumper ants.

Living In Fear

This story is about our son “Chevy” and how we live in fear every day. Chevy has an anaphylactic reaction to a jack jumper sting and he is only 8 years old.

He has been stung twice in his short life both times were on his fingers. The first time his hand and arm swelled to twice its size but didn’t require medical treatment, but the second time I needed to rush him to the RHH because you could see the poison travelling up his arm and the swelling was so fast he was having trouble breathing. By the time I got him to hospital he was in anaphylactic shock. The doctors took him away and said I got him there just in time (Chevy was only 4 years old at the time). Now he has to carry an epipen where ever he goes because if he is stung again he could die.

Everyday he goes to school we always tell him we love him because we don’t know if it will be the last time we see him or not.

25th August 2005
Hansard - Legislative Council

Mrs RATTRAY-WAGNER (Apsley - Motion) - Mr President, I move -

That the Legislative Council strongly supports the Royal Hobart Hospital’s Jack-Jumper Immunotherapy Program and urges the State Government to act expeditiously in its attempts to secure the necessary co-funding through the Commonwealth Government and otherwise to do all in its power to ensure the program’s continuation.

Legislative Council

Hansard 25 August, 2005

Mr WILKINSON (Nelson) - Mr President, I note with interest the motion by the honourable member for Apsley because today I also want to talk about jack-jumpers and the lifesaving research which is being carried out in Tasmania at the Royal Hobart Hospital. I would urge the Government to continue to fund this world-class research.

Mr President, this program is world class. It is being developed by clever Tasmanians in the clever island, very much in line with Tasmania’s stated goals. We do not want to allow the vaccine to be shelved without ever reaching those of us whose lives depend upon it. Therefore I call on the Government to do all in its power to continue this funding in the years to come.

24th August 2005
Hansard - House of Assembly

I would assume, Minister, that you have met a number of people who have asked you to find a way to ensure that this program can be available to more people than the 60 people who continue to be part of it. We have suggested funding for at least 500 Tasmanians to access that program, although both you and I know that there are potentially 4 000 Tasmanians who have previously experienced severe reactions and they are at particularly higher risk of a fatal reaction. As a result, they could either suffer severe lifestyle restrictions or die. That is the question; once someone has died who could have been saved from that, you ask yourself what price is a life.
Sue Napier, MHA

Stephen Jay Gould, 1991

“Has your day not been brightened just a bit by learning that...an ant, looking much like others, can gallivant about with an absolute minimum of one chromosome per cell?”

A comprehensive listing of published clinical research articles about Myrmecia Pilosula (the Jack Jumper!) may be found here.

If you would like to make Tax Deductible donations to the RHH Jack Jumper Immunotherapy Programme, please forward your donation to RHH Research Foundation Inc. GPO Box 1061, Hobart, 7001 or telephone 03 6222 8088.

13-July-2005 - WA Department of Health

A simple sting from a tiny creepy crawly from the Australian bush can cause a life-threatening medical emergency for people who are allergic.

WA researcher Associate Professor Simon Brown, who led a team that received international recognition for developing a highly effective vaccine to the native Australian jack jumper ant, has just won a New Independent Researcher Infrastructure Support (NIRIS) Award.

A/Professor Brown is one of six winners of the 2005 NIRIS Awards, which are sponsored by the Department of Health.

My Home in Tasmania
Louisa Anne Meredith, 1852

Many of the logs that we dragged to our fires were the abodes of numerous kinds of ants, most of which nip rather sharply, but of some the sting is venomous and agonizing in the extreme. A species of ant somewhat smaller than these, black, with yellow forceps, is as much or more to be dreaded, as they sting with equal severity, and can jump a considerable distance in pursuit of any one who molests them.

ABC Radio National - The Health Report

This is the most serious and life threatening allergic reaction. An Emergency Physician from Fremantle, Western Australia, studied over a thousand people with anaphylaxis.

The most serious and potentially life threatening allergic reaction is called anaphylaxis. At its most severe your blood pressure drops drastically and your airways close down, and every year there are a few deaths as a result.

Peanut allergy tends to get the most publicity. But there is some confusion about the best way to grade whether someone’s having a mild, moderate or severe anaphylactic reaction, and just what are the commonest causes.

Dr Simon Brown is an Emergency Physician at Fremantle Hospital in Western Australia, but previously was head of ED at the Royal Hobart Hospital, which is where he did this study of over a thousand people with anaphylaxis.

Simon Brown: We got a fairly good picture of the causes. In South Eastern Australia it’s roughly divided into quarters, about a quarter of people’s reactions are caused by insect stings, particularly ant stings in Tasmania.

Norman Swan: What kind of ant?

Simon Brown: Jack jumpers or bullants. That hasn’t been recognised to be such a huge problem in the past, but jack jumper ants were the single most important cause of anaphylaxis in our study.

By ANNE MATHER

08 AUG 05

He may be only four years old, but an allergy to jack-jumper ants has forced Hamish Allan to develop a maturity beyond his years.

Since suffering a severe reaction to an ant bite in February, little Hamish has been practising injecting himself with a syringe of adrenalin.

His father Marcus Allan said the family, including his son, needed to be ready to act quickly if Hamish were bitten again.

“Jack-jumper reactions become progressively worse for those who are allergic,” Mr Allan said.

By ANNE MATHER

08 AUG 05

The State Government is calling on the Commonwealth and other states to help fund a life-saving treatment for people allergic to jack-jumper ants.

Deputy Premier David Llewellyn said $1 million was needed to fund a treatment program, but Tasmania should not have to foot the entire bill.

“Half the people who stand to benefit live on the mainland,” Mr Llewellyn said.

SUE NAPIER, MHA
Shadow Minister for Health

4 AUG 2005

Shadow Health Minister Sue Napier today said it was a sad indictment on Labor that people who could die because of their allergies to jack jumper bites had been forced to launch a petition to get the State Labor Government to fund life-saving treatment that was pioneered here in Tasmania.