What to do if a bee has bitten in the head, eye, neck, hand, finger, leg

A bee sting is a very unpleasant incident that can happen to a person relaxing in nature. The active substances of bee venom can seriously disrupt the functioning of various body systems, causing toxic poisoning and allergic reactions. At the same time, most people do not even suspect that they have an allergic reaction to bee venom, which puts their lives at risk even more. It is important to know what actions to take in the event of a bee attack and how to behave depending on where the bite was made.

Is a bee sting dangerous for humans?

Of all the hymenoptera (bees, ants, wasps, etc.), it is the bees that pose the greatest danger to humans, since the poison contained in their sting includes the widest variety of various toxins and allergens that are dangerous to humans.

By itself, bee venom or apitoxin is a clear or slightly yellowish liquid with a specific odor.

The composition of bee venom includes such substances:

1. Methylene – the main toxin of the poison, its main active ingredient (content up to 50%). It has the ability to destroy red blood cells, increases vascular permeability, leads to the active release of inflammation-provoking substances, negatively affects the metabolic processes inside the cells and tissues of the body, leads to muscle contractions, etc.
2. Mom – a substance that acts on the nervous system. When ingested, it leads to an increase in motor activity, stimulates the activity of spinal cord cells, and can lead to disruption in the transmission of information through the cells of the nervous system.
3. Histamine protein – a substance that leads to the release of histamine from mast cells (these are special blood cells). Most often, it is this that leads to allergic manifestations.
4. Histamine – Causes and exacerbates existing pain sensations. Expands the walls of blood vessels, which leads to swelling and redness.
5. Hyaluronidase – thins the blood and other fluids in the body, which contributes to the faster penetration of the poison from the bite site into neighboring tissues and organs.
6. MSD-peptide – is a highly active peptide consisting of two dozen amino acids. Together with histamine protein leads to allergies.

The composition of bee venom can change with the age of the insect. Usually, methylin in the poison contains the most by the 10th day of the life of the bee, and histamine – after the 35th day of his life. That is, we can say that it is old bees that most often cause allergies.

With a bee sting, two reactions of the body are observed:

• toxic;
• allergic.

Depending on how each of the reactions proceeds, it is determined how the victim should be assisted. Each of the reactions, depending on the amount of poison, is classified according to its own scale. For example, a toxic reaction can be expressed as:

1. Encephalitis.
2. Malignant myosthenia.
3. Mononeuritis.

Allergic reactions have a special nature of impact on the body, and are also divided into three groups: a reaction of mild severity, moderate or severe. The latter case is actually anaphylactic shock, and without medical assistance is fraught with death.

Despite the fact that only 0,2 to 0,5% of people (every 200 or every 500) are allergic to bee venom, it is they who fill the statistics of deaths, because they either do not know about their disease, or they are helped. untimely.

How a bee stings

The sting of the bee is located at the end of the abdomen. In the normal state, the sting is hidden inside, and it is not visible. When the insect begins to feel danger, it introduces a little sting from the abdomen.

During the attack, the bee presses the abdomen under itself, and the sting is put forward. That is why the bees do not need to first sit on the “victim”, and only then sting it – the attack can be carried out literally “on the fly”.

On the sting of the bee there are small notches directed towards the abdomen. Outwardly, they resemble the tip of a harpoon. If a bee stings someone from the world of insects, then after the attack, the sting is pulled out of the victim without any problems and the bee saves both him and his life. According to the observations of zoologists, in this way a bee can carry out 6-7 bites without harming its health.

However, when biting a person or any living creature with soft skin, everything happens a little differently. Notches do not allow the insect to remove the sting from the wound, and the bee has to get rid of it, literally tearing out part of its insides. After that, the insect dies.

But that’s not all. After the bee has flown away, leaving the stinger in the wound, the stinger itself begins to contract convulsively, driving itself deeper and deeper into the skin and injecting more and more poison into the body of the victim. That is why you should get rid of the sting sticking out of the bite as soon as possible.

How to remove a bee sting

After a bee sting, you should carefully remove the sting from the skin to remove sources of toxins and allergens from the body. The best way to do this is with tweezers.

In this case, you should not squeeze out the sting, as this will lead to an even faster spread of the poison throughout the body.

Is it possible to die from a bee sting

From a single bee sting, you can die only in case of severe allergies (in fact, from anaphylactic shock) in the absence of medical attention. In other cases, death from a single bee sting is unlikely.

A bee is not able to hit any “vulnerable place” on the human body (such as a large hornet), the poison contained in one individual is clearly not enough for a toxic reaction to have fatal consequences for the human body.

How many bee stings are fatal to humans

The lethal dose of bee venom from an ordinary domestic bee for an adult is about 200 mg. This is equivalent to stinging 200 to 500 bees at a time.

Therefore, it is worth avoiding places with a high concentration of bees, in particular, those where they swarm or massively collect honey. Well, of course, you should not go to apiaries idle.

In Central or South America, contacts with bees should generally be limited as much as possible: the Africanized bee living there is larger than the usual domestic bee, about twice as large and very aggressive. Despite the fact that its poison is the same as that of an ordinary bee, due to its high aggressiveness, the number of bites can reach lethal values.

Why don’t bees bite the beekeeper?

In the statistics of people who have received bee stings, there are practically no beekeepers themselves. On the one hand, this is understandable, because if a beekeeper works in an apiary, then he is dressed in a protective suit and armed with a smoker, so it is quite problematic for a bee to bite him.

However, not all the time beekeepers spend in their equipment. However, there is no secret in this: bees almost never bite beekeepers, because the latter simply know their habits and know how to behave with them.

For example, tips from beekeepers on how to avoid bee stings include the following recommendations:

• do not wave your arms, shake your hair and make sudden movements;
• if a bee shows excessive interest in a person, you must immediately leave, or run away, because it just will not lag behind;
• do not use substances that irritate bees: tobacco, alcohol, perfumes.

How does a bee sting allergy manifest itself and what to do in such cases

An allergic reaction to a bee sting is a very insidious problem. Despite the infrequent prevalence, this disease has one unpleasant manifestation, which is unknown to most allergy sufferers.

The fact is that even if you are allergic to a bee sting, it does not manifest itself after the first bite. In about 1 case out of 100 (meaning out of 100 allergic people), the symptoms do not appear on the second bite. But in the subsequent “pleasure” is guaranteed.

That is why most people who are allergic to bees are simply not ready for it, because thinking works as follows: “I have already been bitten, I had nothing, I am not in danger.” It is this mistake that is the cause of death in bee stings.

Like any other disease, an allergic reaction to bee stings has its own classification in the ICD-10 list of diseases: W57 – Biting or stinging by non-poisonous insects and other non-poisonous arthropods.

Symptoms of a bee sting allergy depend on the severity of the allergic reaction. 

For the first degree: itching, urticaria, swelling (local or extensive), chills or fever, fever, slight malaise, feeling of fear.

In addition, such symptoms can occur against the background of general reactions: shortness of breath, pain in the stomach or intestines, nausea, vomiting and dizziness.

For the second degree in addition to the symptoms of a mild degree of allergy, choking, wheezing, lack of connected thoughts, a feeling of doom are added. The general reactions described earlier acquire more severe manifestations.

Help in dealing with an allergic reaction of mild to moderate severity can be provided on your own, but it is still better to call an ambulance team, since it is not known how the course of the allergy will go on.

Before the ambulance arrives, the bite site should be treated with an external antihistamine (Fenistil, Lokoid, Diphenhydramine, etc.). It is recommended to apply cold to the bite site.

It is also recommended that the victim be given his “on-duty” allergy remedy in the form of tablets or syrup (Suprastin, Claritin, etc.)

Before the arrival of the ambulance, you should lay the victim horizontally and observe his condition. You should also regularly measure the frequency of respiration and pulse and, in addition, the value of blood pressure. All this information should be reported to the emergency doctor.

Grade III or anaphylactic shock, in addition to these symptoms, includes a drop in blood pressure, collapse, defecation, loss of consciousness.

One of the manifestations of shock during a bee sting may be angioedema or Quincke’s edema. In this case, part of the face, the entire face or limb is enlarged. Usually, the disease manifests itself in places where subcutaneous tissue eats – in the area of ​​u2bu3bthe lips, eyelids, oral mucosa, etc. At the same time, skin color does not change and there is no itching. Quincke’s edema usually disappears after a few hours or within XNUMX-XNUMX days.

Edema can spread to the mucous membrane of the larynx and cause difficulty in breathing, and even its complete stop due to airway obstruction. The consequence of this is hypercapnic coma and death. In the case of milder symptoms, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and increased peristalsis are observed.

Since Quincke’s edema is actually an ordinary urticaria, but located deep under the skin, the measures taken to neutralize it are somewhat similar to the fight against urticaria. The only difference is that they must be taken immediately.

First aid for Quincke’s edema:

1. Call an ambulance.
2. Stop contact between the patient and the allergen (bee venom).
3. It is necessary to apply a pressure bandage above the site of the bee sting. If this is not possible (for example, the bite was in the neck), ice or a compress should be applied to the wound.
4. Loosen the patient’s clothes.
5. Provide fresh air supply.
6. Give the patient a few tablets of activated charcoal.

What is the first aid to the victim of a bee sting

First aid for a bee sting consists of the following activities:

1. The victim should sit down or lie down.
2. It is necessary to remove the sting with the remnants of poison from the wound.
3. After removing the sting, it is necessary to disinfect the wound. To do this, you can use alcohol, a solution of furacilin, hydrogen peroxide or brilliant green.
4. Treat the skin around the bite site with an external antihistamine. Many sting preparations contain anesthetics to numb the bee sting.
5. Give the victim an antihistamine in the form of tablets, and then a plentiful warm drink in the form of tea with a sufficient amount of sugar.

If the symptoms of an allergy after a bite have symptoms of the second or third severity, an ambulance must be called.

What is dangerous bee sting during pregnancy

The main danger of a bee sting during pregnancy is that in order to eliminate its consequences in the form of toxic poisoning or an allergic reaction, there are restrictions on the drugs used.

That is, it is quite possible that a pregnant woman will not be able to quickly stop the development of an allergic reaction, since many conventional antihistamines (and not only them) may be prohibited for her.

In the event of a bee sting during pregnancy, you should immediately contact the doctor who is being monitored and get recommendations from him on what to do in this situation. There is no universal answer to this question, since the course of pregnancy, as well as therapy with it and other nuances, are too individual.

However, in case of obvious manifestation of the following symptoms:

• swelling of a large area;
• shortness of breath;
• dizziness;
• pain in the chest and abdomen;
• nausea;
• tachycardia;

you should not only inform your doctor, but also call an ambulance, since the presence of at least two of them is a sure sign of an approaching anaphylactic shock.

In addition, pregnant women with bee stings, regardless of whether they have allergies or not, are prohibited from using the following drugs:

• Aspirin;
• Diphenhydramine;
• Advantan.

The behavior with bee stings during lactation repeats all the tips and activities recommended during pregnancy.

What to do if the leg is swollen after a bee sting

The sequence of actions that must be followed if a bee has bitten in the leg and it is swollen does not particularly differ from the general recommendations for bee stings. First, as usual, the sting is removed with the remnants of the poison and the wound is treated with antiseptic.

Depending on the severity of the allergic reaction, it is necessary to make a decision about going to the doctor or calling an ambulance. To relieve swelling, it is recommended to use some soothing ointments (for example, Hydrocortisone), as well as apply a loose gauze bandage over the wound.

If the swelling is noticeable enough, then ice or a cold compress should be applied to it. An antihistamine that is currently on hand should also be taken by mouth. Paracetamol or Ibuprofen can be used to relieve pain symptoms.

A bee stung in the head: possible consequences and what to do

The consequences of those cases when a bee has bitten to the head can be much more serious than bites to other parts of the body. The proximity of a large number of nerve and blood lines, as well as the respiratory tract (especially in the neck and eyes) make the head the most vulnerable place for a bee attack.

If, for example, a bee has bitten on the forehead, then it is practically harmless. If a bee has bitten in the nose or ear, then the risk of such injuries is slightly higher, but in any case this does not pose a threat to life. Bee stings in the area of ​​the neck, eyes and lips are much more serious, since the places of bites and edema are in proximity to vital organs and systems of the body.

What to do if a bee stung in the ear

The main problem with a bee sting in the ear is the difficulty in getting the stinger out. It is better not to do it yourself, you need to contact a qualified specialist. If this is not nearby, you should attach a cotton swab moistened with alcohol or vodka to the bite site, drink a Suprastin tablet (or any antihistamine) and contact the first-aid post.

The rest of the steps are similar to those previously described.

What to do if a bee stung on the neck

A bee sting on the neck is much more dangerous than a sting on a limb. Even before giving first aid, you should call a doctor. This is due to the fact that swelling in the neck can provoke blockage of the airways.

Next, you should free the victim’s clothes as much as possible, giving him the opportunity to breathe freely. It is better to take it out into the open air. The victim should be given an antihistamine and apply a cold compress to the edema.

The compress may consist of tincture of calendula, aloe or onion. However, usually none of this is at hand, so ordinary ice is used for these purposes.

As with all allergic manifestations, the victim is recommended to drink plenty of sweet and warm drinks.

How to remove swelling from a bee sting on the face

Remedies available to all will help relieve swelling from a bee sting on the face. In this case, it is recommended to use gels, for example, Mosquitol or Fenistil. If such drugs are not available, any antihistamine ointment will do to prevent additional damage to the skin and relieve irritation. To remove swelling from a bee sting under the eyes on the second day, you can use lavender or calendula compresses.

How to relieve swelling if a bee stung in the eye

A bee sting in the eye is best left untreated. With this kind of injury, you should immediately contact the hospital of the appropriate profile. Because the toxic exposure alone can be enough to make you lose your sight.

To remove the puffiness around the eye with a bee sting in the skin of the face, you can use any of the previously described methods.

What to do if a bee stung on the lip

If a bee has bitten on the tongue or on the lip, then it is necessary to call a doctor in case of an allergy to bee stings, since swelling of the lip or tongue can block the airways. The sequence of actions is like with a bite in the neck. First, the poison is removed, then antiseptic treatment is performed. Next – external and internal antihistamine treatment. Painkillers may be used in the background.

First aid for a bee sting in the tongue

Help is provided in the same way as with bites on the lip.

What to do if a bee has bitten into a hand, and it is swollen and itchy

Recommendations for bee stings in the hand almost completely repeat the list of measures that must be taken in case of damage from leg stings. Differences will be only with finger bites.

Itching after a bee sting can be removed by treating the affected area with alcohol, lemon juice, ammonia solution or ordinary vodka.

If the hand is swollen after a bee sting, it is necessary to treat the bite site with an external antihistamine cream (it is better if it contains an anesthetic) and take an antihistamine inside.

If the swelling is bothersome, apply ice or a cold compress to it.

What to do if a bee stung your finger

If a bee has stung a finger, then the first thing to do is to remove the rings from all fingers, since the development of puffiness will not allow this to be done in the future. The rest of the actions are similar to those that are done with bites in the arms or legs.

Are bee stings useful?

Naturally, there are. Bee stings are traditionally used in folk medicine. Treatment with bee venom, apitoxin therapy, is the most important method of apitherapy (the science of using bee products for medicinal purposes).

Bee stings are used to treat the musculoskeletal system, nervous system, immune system, etc. Often, bee venom, along with honey and propolis, is used to treat diseases of the cardiovascular system, skin, and so on.

In addition, bee venom is included in many drugs of classical (scientific) medicine – apicophore, virapin, etc.

Conclusion

A bee sting is a rather unpleasant injury, however, you should not make a tragedy out of it. Its toxic effect is minimal, and even the bites of several dozen of these insects will not cause much harm. However, in the case of an allergy, the reaction can be much more severe. Therefore, it is necessary not only to always have anti-allergenic agents on hand, but also to be ready to provide first aid to those who are prone to such diseases.