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Stings are also known as bites, cuts or stings. In our country, stings are most often carried out by wasps, bees and bumblebees. They usually cause a slight local swelling, redness and slight pain. In extreme cases, anaphylactic shock occurs.
How does a sting happen?
In Poland, the most common stings are caused by:
- axes,
- Bee,
- hornets,
- bumblebees.
Insect stings are common, and rarely complications requiring medical attention.
Honey bee They only sting once in their life. Wasps, and among them the largest – hornets, can sting a person many times, until the supply of venom is completely exhausted. Bumblebee stings are also found in Poland, although much less frequently.
Our biggest wasp – hornet (Vespa crabro) reaches 3,5 cm in length. The body of the hornet is black and there is a black-brown drawing on the yellow abdomen. It lives in all of Central Europe. It is a known predator that attacks other insects. A sting by a female is not only very painful, but also dangerous to humans, while males are completely harmless as they do not have a sting. They are recognized by their long antennae.
- Check if everyone is allergic to insect venoms?
Worker bee at the end of the abdomen there is a sting 2,5 mm long, which is connected to the poison sac, located at its base (in the abdomen). A sting stuck into human skin traps in it thanks to the hair-like protrusions at the end of the stinger and is torn out with the venom vesicle when the bee tries to escape. With careless removal of the sting, the venom is squeezed completely out of the venom sac and pressed into the human skin. The mother bee and the male bee, known as the drone, do not have a stinger.
Hymenoptera venom can cause both local toxic and allergic reactions (pain, swelling) and generalized reactions (anxiety, diarrhea, dyspnoea, collapse). In fact, it has a similar composition: it is a collection of powerful enzymes such as hyaluronidase, phospholipases, as well as many peptides, such as mellitin, acetylcholine, apamine, and histamine. It works at the site of the sting, where it causes an increase in vascular permeability and a local inflammatory reaction, manifested as:
- pain,
- itch,
- tightness and redness of the skin.
Peptides found in venom in single stings are of little importance, while in higher doses, e.g. in cluster stings, they are highly toxic to red blood cells, nerve cells and heart muscle.
To alleviate the unwanted effects of insect bites, try Herbapol’s Insect Bite Gel available at Medonet Market.
To get rid of insect venom, you can use the Tick Remover – TICK OUT, which works like a suction pump. You can find the product on Medonet Market at an attractive price.
Insect stings – symptoms
Most people with insect stings react with slight local swelling and redness, and a short-term soreness and itching at the site of the bite. These symptoms disappear within a few hours. A small number of stung people react with violent general symptoms or with a strong local reaction. Such a strong response of the patient to a bite is related to the occurrence of hypersensitivity (allergic reaction) to individual components of the venom, resulting from the presence in the body of increased values of antibodies from the reagin group (IgE). These antibodies are associated with selected components of bee venom and cause a dangerous response in the body.
In the event of anaphylactic shock, immediate medical attention is needed. In allergic people, it is enough to sting just one bee or wasp to trigger dangerous, often life-threatening symptoms – shock.
The symptoms of an anaphylactic reaction following a sting are numerous, the most common being:
- nausea,
- vomiting,
- generalized or local swelling,
- excessive sneezing
- general weakness
- tinnitus
- anxiety,
- hoarseness,
- sinica,
- chills,
- shortness of breath
- itchy rash like hives or erythema
- itchy nose or eyes
- stomach pain.
There may also be a drop in blood pressure and a collapse with unconsciousness. The patient’s death occurs as a result of laryngeal edema, obstruction of the bronchial tree and circulatory and respiratory failure.
Stings – How To Do?
If the course of the sting is not very violent, a variety of simple methods can be used to relieve the pain, such as placing ice cubes on the stung area or rubbing it with vinegar. For more severe symptoms, hydrocortisone ointment and antihistamines can be used.
To alleviate the symptoms of a sting, try the Marigold liner with betulin for skin problems, which you can buy at a promotional price at Medonet Market.
How to remove the sting?
The sting should be gently lifted with the tip of the pin and then carefully removed (do not try to pull the sting out by grasping the tip of the sting with two fingers, as this will compress the venom vesicle and squeeze the remains of the venom into the sting’s tissues).
In addition, it should also be remembered that a scratched wound becomes a site of additional infections, therefore, in the case of larger cavities, the wound should be decontaminated and a sterile dressing applied. Try Propolis BeeYes soothing oil for stings and burns.
A sting by a single wasp or a bee in the area of the head or neck is sometimes very dangerous and can lead to the death of the sting as a result of suffocation caused by allergic swelling of the larynx. In the event of such stings, see a doctor immediately or call an ambulance.
Group stings can be very dangerous (in the order of several hundred), which may eventually lead to death. So if the bees attack in groups, you should escape to any dark room while covering your face, because the bees do not like darkness and will fly outside when they strive for light.
Long-term treatment consists in taking a desensitizing action. The vaccine of choice is a vaccine prepared from properly purified insect venom. This type of method is safe, but desensitization should be performed by an experienced allergist doctor.
When writing about the toxic effects of bee venom on the human body, it is impossible to ignore the positive role it plays in the treatment of rheumatic diseases. This type of treatment is called apitoxin therapy and uses the positive healing properties of the venom related to its antibacterial, lipostable, cytostatic and immune-stimulating properties.
- Bee stings – symptoms and first aid for stings
In many countries of the world, this method is used in a natural form or in the form of preparations based on venom for the treatment of selected diseases. All preparations from this bee product should be taken under the supervision of a physician, because its pharmacodynamic effect covers the whole organism and the therapeutic dose is very close to the toxic dose.
How to prevent
Management of patients allergic to insect venom is to prevent subsequent bites. So you should:
- avoid going barefoot,
- avoid wearing colored clothes,
- hair should be rather short,
- avoid using fragrant cosmetics and being close to hives, in flowering gardens or orchards.
A kit containing adrenaline, antihistamines and hydrocortisone should be available in close range of the sting. In addition, the patient should be trained in the management of stings.
In the case of allergic reactions after insect bites, it is also worth carrying out allergy tests for insect venom. They are available on Medonet Market at an attractive price.