Stinging Insect Venom Allergy, Peter M. G. Deane, M. D.
Source: www.aair.info
Topic: Insect Stings
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Sort Desciption: Summer is here. The flowers are abloom, the insects are abuzz, and many of us look forward to spending more time outdoors. However, for some of us the buzz of insects is a reminder of the risk of a systemic allergic reaction when stung, which when it involves breathing or blood pressure is known as anaphylaxis, and can be life-threatening or even fatal. ...
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This article is for informational purposes only and cannot substitute for an allergists opinion in consultation. Summer is here. The flowers are abloom, the insects are abuzz, and many of us look forward to spending more time outdoors. However, for some of us the buzz of insects is a reminder of the risk of a systemic allergic reaction when stung, which when it involves breathing or blood pressure is known as anaphylaxis, and can be life-threatening or even fatal. Although the official number of deaths directly attributed to anaphylactic reactions to insect stings is only forty to fifty a year for the entire country, many experts believe that the actual number is actually much higher because it does not include many cases of sudden outdoor death where the sting was not noted. The insects responsible for causing this type of severe reaction belong to the class Hymenoptera and include the honeybee (Apis mellifera) and several wasps: the paper wasp, the yellow jacket, the yellow hornet, the white faced hornet and the imported red fire ant (Solenopsis invicta, which is not present in the our area because our Winters are too cold for it to survive). Of these, by far the most common stinger is the yellow jacket, a very aggressive, ground dwelling scavenger which tends to sting people in their feet and lower legs when accidentally disturbing their nests while mowing the lawn or doing yard work. As they are scavengers, they will fight you for your food. This is why they are pests at picnics: they act like flies with stingers, which is basically what they are. Other wasps hunt insects, so they are interested in you mainly if you bother them, for example, try to destroy their nests. Bees are interested in pollen from flowers, and usually sting only when they cannot get awayif you step on them, for instance. So the most common insect to be stung by is ...
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