A 15-year-old girl is being treated for sceptic shock and has been left traumatised after she was bitten by tropical ants at her south west London home.
Rayanne Turay was taken to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital after an ant bite on her leg became infected.
Her mother, Jordann Griffiths, said she had complained to Wandsworth Council months ago following the infestation.
While the council has since carried out work on the flat, it wasn’t enough to get rid of the infestation leaving Rayanne "traumatised” and afraid to return home. “One of her bites, which was under her armpit, turned into an abscess and they drained it out and took swabs and confirmed it was from an ant bite,” Ms Griffiths told Sky News.
“It was very scary for her. It was scary for me, and scary for her dad and people to see her the way she was.”
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital also contacted the council urging them to remedy the situation after Rayanne was admitted.
Housing campaigner, Kwajo Tweneboa, said Ms Griffiths had got in contact with him several days before her daughter was hospitalised and has complained of several issues, including damp, in the past.
A Wandsworth Council spokesperson told Sky News: "This is obviously a distressing set of circumstances and we sincerely hope this young person makes a swift and full recovery.
"We are aware of a Pharoah ant infestation at this resident's property and using a pest control contractor we have treated the property three times over the summer and will continue to repeat the treatments until the problem has been dealt with.
"A number of repairs to the property are also in hand and while we carry out these repairs and treatments we are offering the resident alternative accommodation so this situation can be resolved as quickly as possible."
Pharaoh ants are a tropical species, but they also thrive in buildings almost anywhere that have heating
