Deadly reactions to BEE STINGS can strike at any age
Even if they’ve caused no problem before
BeeKeePer David Parker had been stung more than a dozen times learning about his new hobby without any problems. Then one summer’s day while gardening, he was stung on the head and then on the chest — and passed out.
‘I’d started beekeeping the year before and usually I hardly felt anything if I was stung. I would just pull out the sting and carry on,’ says David, 51, a bank consultant, who lives in Surrey, with his wife Monique, 55, and daughter Alyssa, 14.
‘But this time was different — right away I felt dizzy and my shirt became drenched in sweat within about 20 seconds. I then had an urgent need to go to the toilet and started to itch intensely all over.’
He managed to pull out the sting, but minutes later he went to the bedroom to lie down — and passed out on the floor.
‘I’ve no idea how long I was unconscious as I was home alone,’ says David.
‘When I woke up, I was starting to feel better so call 999.’
But feeling uneasy about what had happened, David decided to call one of his beekeeper friends, who advised him to see his GP as he feared the reaction could be more dangerous next time.
‘I saw the GP a few days later and he confirmed that I’d had an allergic reaction. He prescribed epiPens of adrenaline and told me to keep them with me at all times.
‘He also said the next reaction could be far worse.
‘I didn’t want to give up beekeeping and managed to convince myself my reaction was just a one-off.
‘My wife wasn’t happy, though, as the hives in the garden contained about 60,000 to 70,000 bees.’
Monique was right to be concerned — two weeks later, David was stung again while gardening.
‘I felt sweaty and dizzy within seconds and staggered back into the house. Monique just managed to inject the epiPen into my leg before I passed out and Alyssa called 999,’ says David.
By the time the ambulance arrived ten minutes later, David was coming round. He didn’t need to go to hospital, but, unsurprisingly, Monique was adamant the bees had to go.
David had suffered an anaphylactic reaction — a potentially lifethreatening response where the body’s immune system goes into overdrive after it mistakes an allergen for a foreign invader. I didn’t
MAST cells ( a type of white blood cell) explode and flood the body with chemicals including histamine and tryptase.
This causes skin rashes and itching, swollen airways and breathing difficulties, violent stomach upsets and a fall in blood pressure, which leads to dizziness and a loss of consciousness.
Worryingly, it’s something that could happen to any of us, with a growing number of people such as David experiencing this kind of serious reaction without having had any previous allergic reaction to being stung or to other allergens, such as peanuts.
The latest NHS figures show there were 22,377 admissions for allergies in england last year, 12,819 of them as emergencies. And there were 4,000 admissions for anaphylaxis — up by 9.14 per cent from 2010/11.
Bee and wasp stings are responsible for 70 per cent of the deaths from anaphylaxis in england and Wales — yet there is far greater awareness of other potential triggers, such as peanuts.
‘People just don’t realise how dangerous bee and wasp venom stings can be,’ says Dr Patrick Yong, a consultant immunologist at the royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford.
The most worrying trend is that increasing numbers of people suffer anaphylactic reactions for the first time as adults. ‘ These are people who never reacted to these triggers before — even mildly — and suddenly develop a severe allergic reaction,’ says Dr Yong.
‘We don’t know why it’s happening, but it’s probably for the same reasons that allergies generally are on the rise.’
Lynne regent, chief executive of the Anaphylaxis Campaign, says that the charity’s helpline receives a high volume of calls from adults having their first allergic reaction.
‘Allergy specialists are telling us this, too.’
Drinking alcohol, exercise, taking anti-inflammatory drugs, or having viral infections, poorly controlled asthma or heart problems can put you at higher risk of having an anaphylactic reaction following a sting, even though you might have been stung or exposed many times before, says Dr Shuaib Nasser, a consultant in allergy at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.
Allergic reactions to bee and wasp stings are classified as localised — causing redness and swelling around the sting site — or systemic, where other parts of the body are affected.
Systemic reactions can be categorised as mild — such as when you are stung on the foot and get a rash all over the body, but there are no life-threatening symptoms — or anaphylactic, where the reaction is potentially life-threatening and may include symptoms such as dizziness, loss of consciousness or breathing problems.
Severe systemic reactions to bee and wasp stings occur in one in 100 cases of people being stung and a small proportion of these will be anaphylactic.
‘What a lot of people don’t realise is that even if they have a mild systemic reaction they should still see a doctor and get an epiPen to carry at all times,’ says Dr Yong.
‘Once you’ve had one generalised reaction there is a 30 to 60 per cent chance you will have another and it could be much worse.’
Adrenaline reverses the symptoms by constricting blood vessels, reducing swelling and increasing blood pressure, as well as relaxing muscles around the airways.
The Anaphylaxis Campaign is launching Bee resistant, a new drive to alert the public to the dangers of bee and wasp stings, as well as to the treatments that are available, such as immunotherapy — where tiny amounts of bee venom are injected in progressively larger amounts until the body can tolerate it again.
Under NICe guidelines, people who have had severe reactions to bee or wasp stings can be treated with the injections at one of the 16 NHS allergy centres in Britain.
DAVID’S wife Monique banned him from the garden for the rest of the summer until the bee hives were taken elsewhere.
‘fortunately, a beekeeper told me about the desensitisation treatment on the NHS and my GP referred me,’ says David.
Three weeks later, he started a three-month programme of weekly injections at the royal Surrey County Hospital.
‘The first amounts of venom I was injected with were minute. I’d take an antihistamine tablet before to dampen down my immune system and stay in hospital for an hour to check I wasn’t having a reaction. Luckily, I didn’t have one,’ says David.
‘By 12 weeks I could tolerate a dose equivalent to two bee stings. I then switched to the maintenance programme and am mid- way through a three-year course of monthly injections of the same dose of venom.’
Surprisingly, David is still beekeeping — though he doesn’t keep hives in his garden.
‘My desensitisation treatment is certainly working as I was stung recently and didn’t have a reaction,’ he says.
‘Bees only sting you defensively as they die afterwards, but at least if I’m stung again, I know that it won’t kill me, too.’