Bee venom shortage

A shortage of bee venom has left families whose children have deadly insect sting allergies in the dark about the future of their medical treatments.

Venom immunotherapy is a treatment for anaphylactic reaction to bee stings, helping to reduce the chance and severity of future reactions.

An Auckland mother, who Stuff has agreed to call Angela*, recently received a letter from the hospital stating they may need to stagger or stop son Josh’s* treatments due to low supply, three years into a five-year schedule.

The family were ‘‘very concerned’’ about what this would mean for Josh’s treatment, and for those whose treatment was yet to start.

Venom immunotherapy works like a vaccine against bee stings.

Through regularly exposing the body to small, injected amounts of venom, in increasing doses over years, your body builds immunity to the allergen(s).

Josh had his first anaphylactic reaction to a sting three years ago, aged five, after stepping on a bee.

Within minutes his parents could see ‘‘a tide of red rising up his leg’’ as the venom entered his body, causing his face and body to swell. His body ‘‘started shutting down’’, requiring two lots of adrenaline given to him in an ambulance en route to hospital.

Josh has had an injection of bee venom at Starship Children’s Hospital every month for three years to build up his immunity.

The letter from Auckland District Health Board, seen by Stuff, said stocks of bee venom would be replenished ‘‘but we do not know when that will be’’.

If families were unable to get a script for venom the DHB could increase the interval between injections for children who had not a recent reaction or concerns