FATAL BEE STINGS

Evening Star, Issue 22249, 29 January 1936, Page 10

FATAL BEE STINGS

EXTREMELY RARE OCCURRENCE SOME PERSONS ABNORMALLY SUSCEPTIBLE Cases of fatal bee stings, such as that which occurred at Invercargill on Sunday, are said to be extremely rare, resulting only in persons who have abnormal susceptibility to the foreign protein contained in tho fluid injected with a bee sting. Dr E. F. D’Ath, pathologist at the Otago Medical School, told a Star reporter to-clsy "that some are very sensitive to such foreign matters, an example of this uncommon sensitivity being seen in a much lesser degree' among those persons who become ill after eating such food substances as oysters, crayfish, and strawberries. < All contain different proteins, but disagree with the same persons. Reference was made to an authority on the subject, who stated that death as the result of a single bee sting was extremely uncommon, a case being cited of a man in Germany dying from a single bee sting on tho leg. Most fatal cases were the outcome of stin tes in the mouth or about the throat, from bees which flew into the mouth when a person was laughing or yawning, Dr D’Ath added. A sting on the neck sometimes caused extensive swelling so as to choke the sufferer. No particular species of bees had been proved to possess a death sting, bees and wasps being classified together. No fatal case has ever been recorded in Dunedin to Dr D’Ath’s knowledge, though he recalled that about three years ago a man working on the roadside near Invercargill was reported to have collapsed _ and died within a few minutes of being stung by one of a swarm of bees.