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The spring and summer months bring people outdoors.
Insects, including bees, wasps, and fire ants, become more active
as well. Eventually people and stinging insects come into contact
with each other, often with painful results. Sometimes, bee, wasp
and fire ant stings can cause life-threatening anaphylaxis.
As with any other type of allergy, allergic reactions to bee stings
require prior sensitization. If someone has never been stung before,
they are not allergic. Allergic reactions can occur with the second
sting or with the one-hundreth sting, but never the first sting.
Anaphylactic reactions are fairly easy to determine on clinical
grounds alone. Local pain and swelling are expected after a bee
sting and not a cause for concern. Also large local reactions, while
painful, are not dangerous as long as they do not involve the airway.
Neither of these two reactions identifies patients at increased
risk for anaphylactic reactions to bee stings other than creating
the possibility of sensitizing the patient to bee venom.
About The Author
Dr. Gary B. Moss received a BA in Biology from the University of
Chicago and an MS in Human Physiology from Georgetown University.
He graduated from the Medical College of Virginia, where he also
completed his Internship and Residency in Internal Medicine. He
served as a Fellow of Allergy and Immunology at Barnes-Jewish Hospital
and Washington University at the St. Louis School of Medicine.
He is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and in Allergy and Immunology.
Dr. Moss is on staff at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, Sentara
Leigh Memorial Hospital, Bon Secours De Paul Hospital, and Chesapeake
General Hospital.
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