Jennie Kun loves spending time in her garden, but the potentially deadly sting from a jack jumper ant has her wary every time she goes outside.
"I have got to get suited up when I am out there mowing, planting trees or pruning," she said.
"I've got to have thick jeans on, thick socks, I wear gumboots and I have got the jeans on the outside of the gumboots."
The jack jumper is a species of aggressive, venomous ant that grabs its prey with its jaws and stings with its tail.
While the sting usually only triggers a mild reaction in humans, some people, like Ms Kun, can suffer a severe anaphylactic reaction.
Ms Kun, who lives in Tasmania's north-west, carries an adrenaline pen and anti-inflammatory tablets whenever she goes outside, and also brings a whistle which she can use if she gets stung.
"These ants are quite aggressive and if you disturb their lovely little nest they will seek you out and jump on you," she said.
"If you are bitten you have got to get that adrenaline into yourself and get up to the hospital as soon as possible."
Jack jumpers are most frequently found in Tasmania and south-east mainland Australia.
Their sting is responsible for more cases of anaphylaxis than bee stings in Tasmania, with around three per cent of Tasmanians allergic.
Ms Kun has recently started a program that desensitises people who have severe allergic reactions to jack jumper stings by exposing them to small amounts of the ant's venom.
But the initial phase of the program is only offered at the specialised Jack Jumper Allergy Program clinical unit at the Royal Hobart Hospital, and she is required to travel from her home near Latrobe, more than three hours away, one day a week for up to 12 weeks.
"The people down there are amazing. It's an amazing program but my concern is there are a lot of people out there that just can't get down to Hobart," she said.
"I do love living here and I don't want to move away just because of an ant."
She said people who worked or who were at school did not have the same flexibility as someone retired, like herself, to make the trip south.
Calls for program to be expanded
The program has been described as "highly successful", treating thousands of Tasmanians since it was established in 2001.
During the 1990s there were four reported jack jumper deaths in Tasmania, but there have been none since the program started.
There are currently 280 patients receiving the venom immunotherapy in the state.
Long-term treatment following the initial phase is available at Burnie's North West Regional Hospital but patients must be stable on the treatment before care is transferred from Hobart.
But Ms Kun is hoping the program could be offered in full from the state's north-west.
"Not being able to be desensitised excludes many people from lifestyle activities, school excursions, sporting activities, outdoor work, volunteering and tourism activities," she said.
"A program in the north-west would give access to more people to fully integrate into society."
Ms Kun has written to local politicians, including Labor's Anita Dow, who said she would like to see the program expanded to ease the travel pressures for patients.
But a Department of Health spokesperson said the initial phase was provided exclusively in Hobart "to ensure the highest standards of patient safety and care, and availability of the necessary clinical expertise".
"A team of clinicians with extensive experience in the management of acute anaphylaxis support patients through the higher risk initial phase of treatment," the spokesperson said.
Financial assistance is available for patients from the north and north-west to access the initial phase of treatment in Hobart through the Patient Travel Assistance Scheme.
The spokesperson said the possibility of providing a venom immunotherapy clinic at the Launceston General Hospital was under investigation.
