Wasp stings

How to treat wasp stings, the signs of anaphylactic shock

Wasp stings are painful but can also be life threatening to certain individuals but treating wasp stings is relatively straight forward.

Are wasp stings dangerous?

If a person is allergic to insect stings and they get stung by a Wasp, Hornet or Bee the venom can induce anaphylactic shock.
Anaphylactic Shock is an allergic reaction, in this case the allergy is to the venom of the wasp or bee sting. The body’s response to the venom triggers a quick release of histamines in large quantities. The effect of this on the human body is a loss in blood pressure and difficulty in breathing and in severe cases death. Death from wasp and Bee stings is however unusual.
If you are known to be allergic to insect stings then it is advisable to keep well away from the vicinity of a wasp nest or bee hives, also Antihistamine injections should be kept in a readily available location.
The danger with wasp stings and Anaphylaxis is, sometimes the person being stung doesn’t realise that they are allergic until after being stung. Also in the case of beekeepers that are repeatedly stung year after year, it has been known for the allergy to slowly build and each sting increases the risk of have an allergic reaction.
Most people are not allergic to wasp or bee stings, the sting just hurts. If however someone is stung and starts to feel unwell, then you should seek medical attention right away, don’t leave it.

Treatment of wasp and bee stings!

If you are stung by a wasp, the stinger part of the wasp doesn’t have a barb on it (well it does but the barbs are very small), so the wasp can sting repeatedly.

wasp stings

The venom is painful at first, but after some minutes the initial burning sensation will calm down and the sting will become itchy.
There are some sprays and creams available to ease the effects of a wasp or bee stings. It is wise to keep one or two of these treatments in your first aid kit as a precaution through the summer.
In the case of bee stings, the bee’s stinger has a barb on it, so when the sting punctures the skin, it sticks in and the bee then struggles to get free and the venom sack is pulled away from the bee’s abdomen and continues to pump venom into the skin of the person or animal stung. Once the bee has stung you in this fashion and the venom sack has become detached the bee will die.
If you are stung by a bee, then you will need to remove the sting. Contrary to popular belief it doesn’t matter how you remove the sting, some people say you should scrape it off rather than pinch it and pull it out. The same amount of venom is released into the victim if either method of removal is used.
The best course of action for relieving the pain is to place a ice pack over the stung area, as the venom is acidic the ice will help cool the reaction to the skin tissue.

Why do wasps sting?

Wasps, hornets & bees only sting in self defense when either their nest or queen is under threat. However in late summer when wasps have been feeding on over ripe fruit they can become drunk. Quite literally intoxicated, over the drink/fly limit and when this happens they can get confused and sting for no apparent reason. All three species use pheromones to communicate. The queen emits a pheromone in the nest to indicate that all is well, this pheromone also helps the individuals find their way back to the nest and so on. Pheromones are an integral part of the wasps life, without them they would not be able to operate in the way that they do.
When a Wasp, Hornet or Bee stings you, it emits a different type of pheromone. This sends a danger signal to the others in the nest or hive and also signals them to join in the attack.
This is when things can become extremely dangerous.
If you are stung by a wasp, hornet or bee and you are not sure if the nest is close by, firstly do not panic and run, but move away from the area quickly and keep moving.
If you are unlucky and find yourself under attack from an entire nest or hive then you need to move quickly to the nearest undergrowth, trees, bushes, anything where you can loose sight of them. If you can get to thicker undergrowth, keep moving through it and normally the attack will stop. Wasps and bees will follow across large distances.
We should also point out, that if you are under attack from a nest, waving your arms around in the air will do little to prevent them from stinging you and will only attract attention to where you are and focus the attack.
Easy for us to say “remain calm” we know, but we treat many hundreds of wasp and hornet nests every year and by the very nature of interfering with these nests you can bet we get attacked regularly, we even have the t shirt.