Overview
- Antoinette Webb, 44, developed burning, hives, throat tightness and wheezing seconds after lifting the insect with her children at the historic fort.
- She collapsed at the gift shop, where Friends of Fort Knox director Dean Martin, a former Army medic, called 9-1-1 and gave Benadryl as her lips turned blue.
- Paramedics took her to a hospital, where doctors administered four epinephrine shots to treat severe anaphylaxis.
- Reporting identified the bug as a six-spotted tiger beetle, a non-venomous species, making such a reaction highly unusual.
- Webb returned the next day with her 9-year-old twins to thank staff, highlighting the value of basic first aid and quick escalation to emergency care.