Snakes scary, but bee bites worse

[News Bot]

Published: 29-May-08 01:35 AM
Source: AAP via NEWS.com.au

SNAKES might be feared for their venomous bite but new statistics show spiders and bees are behind the majority of bite and sting hospitalisations.

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[hazzard]

Well the average 100 bee stings a week i experience must make me "hard core"! But in a seriousness i have seen many varied reactions to bee stings, everything from a "hives" type rash (pardon the pun) to severe inflammation and itching as well as anaphylaxis.

The interesting misconseption about bee stings is that nearly everyone beleives they are "allergic" to bees stings because they swell up!

Generally there are different types of reactions to the venom, from mild bite site swelling, to moderate, to severe systemic type reaction. It really is an individual thing.

Thos who we term "allergic" are people who suffer anaphylaxis. Basically if they are stung on the toe the then find it difficult to breathe 2-3 minutes. This is much similar to someone with a peanut allergy.

What most people experience is experience is pain, itching, redness swelling and a welt like mark around the sting apparatus site! Generally this is not life threatening unless it occurs in the mouth or on the throat where it can hamper breathing.

Now i expect 50 people now to say they know someone who is allergic when in actual fact systemic allergic reactions (the life threatening ones) show little to know actual "visible" symptoms. That is what is so serious about them! And it is an extremely miniscule % of the worlds population that experiences these reactions.

Just thought i'd throw a few facts out there!

 

[Jewly]

My fox terrier once got bitten in the mouth by a bee and she swelled up so much that she looked like a bull terrier...it was so weird when I first saw her.

 

[beeman]

Couldnt agree more Hazzard, I keep bees comercially and i constantly get bombarded
with the line from people that o i am alergic to bees, And when you enquire into it further
with them its no more than a typical reaction. My youngest son is allergic to bee venom
and we have to carry adrenaline in case he gets stung. But having said that he doesnt
come to the work shed so as to eliminate the possiabilty of getting stung. Its not a pretty
sight to see someone go into aniphylaxis.

 

[hazzard]

Couldnt agree more Hazzard, I keep bees comercially and i constantly get bombarded
with the line from people that o i am alergic to bees, And when you enquire into it further
with them its no more than a typical reaction. My youngest son is allergic to bee venom
and we have to carry adrenaline in case he gets stung. But having said that he doesnt
come to the work shed so as to eliminate the possiabilty of getting stung. Its not a pretty
sight to see someone go into aniphylaxis.

Great to find another who works with bees! Although for me it is mainly in a genetic research and bee behaviour capacity i do actually maintain 200 research hives and 30 of my own. As we also run classes in Apiculture i get to see many different types of reactions. I find it interesting really!

 

[beeman]

How long have you been doing the genitic work? As there has been work being done on worker
bees laying ubove excluders for quite a while, Is this part of what work you are doing?

 

[hazzard]

How long have you been doing the genitic work? As there has been work being done on worker
bees laying ubove excluders for quite a while, Is this part of what work you are doing?

Yes anarchistic honeybees, i have been working on it with a research team at Sydney Uni for over a decade! They are my adds you see in the ABK for drones above the excluder in a queen right colony!

 

[beeman]

Thought that might be the case, sorry for the 20 questions, just trying to work out if we have met at any industry meetings

 

[jessb]

But surely there can be different degrees of allergic reaction? I have friends who are allergic to eggs who only have a mild swelling and rash when they eat them, and I also know kids who have anaphylactic reactions to peanut butter who need adrenaline etc - both are allergies, but isn't anaphylaxis just a severe, life-threatening version? My mum swells up to the point where her ankle is as fat as her thigh for about 3 days when she steps on a bee - surely that qualifies as an allergy when compared to someone who gets a sore red spot which hurts for a bit - even though it's not anaphylaxis.

PS I am sooo jealous of anyone who keeps bees. I have wanted to do it for years, along with keeping chickens, planting an orchard and having a jersey cow... A bit tricky in the 'burbs tho!

 

[beeman]

But surely there can be different degrees of allergic reaction? I have friends who are allergic to eggs who only have a mild swelling and rash when they eat them, and I also know kids who have anaphylactic reactions to peanut butter who need adrenaline etc - both are allergies, but isn't anaphylaxis just a severe, life-threatening version? My mum swells up to the point where her ankle is as fat as her thigh for about 3 days when she steps on a bee - surely that qualifies as an allergy when compared to someone who gets a sore red spot which hurts for a bit - even though it's not anaphylaxis.

PS I am sooo jealous of anyone who keeps bees. I have wanted to do it for years, along with keeping chickens, planting an orchard and having a jersey cow... A bit tricky in the 'burbs tho!

Your mums reaction is only a localised reaction most people will experience this sort of
localised swelling, as most dont remove the bees sting properly when they are stung
and in doing so increase the amount of venom they recieve from that sting

 

[=bECS=]

Couldnt agree more Hazzard, I keep bees comercially and i constantly get bombarded
with the line from people that o i am alergic to bees, And when you enquire into it further
with them its no more than a typical reaction. My youngest son is allergic to bee venom
and we have to carry adrenaline in case he gets stung. But having said that he doesnt
come to the work shed so as to eliminate the possiabilty of getting stung. Its not a pretty
sight to see someone go into aniphylaxis.

My brothers the same, my mum almost had a heart attack (literally) the first time he got stung!
Lucky i was there, she panicked big time!
His whole face etc swelled up and he couldnt breathe had to call the ambos.

 

[=bECS=]

Great to find another who works with bees! Although for me it is mainly in a genetic research and bee behaviour capacity i do actually maintain 200 research hives and 30 of my own. As we also run classes in Apiculture i get to see many different types of reactions. I find it interesting really!

Hazz sexes bees :lol:

 

[hazzard]

Yes i do that, i also am a bee ****er! Basically you have to make the drones ejaculate to peform AI (Artificial Insemination)!

 

[Isis]

What the............

 

[beeman]

Yes i do that, i also am a bee ****er! Basically you have to make the drones ejaculate to peform AI (Artificial Insemination)!

New that would have them perplexed!
Yes AI is common practice to expand certain genes in the beekeeping world.
It has been used as a breeding tool for maintaining our queen mother breeding
stock.