I just read an interesting article in the latest issue of Bee Culture sitting on my desk. It talks about how minuscule amounts of bee venom can cause severe reactions in humans. How does this happen?
A typical day in the bee yard involves driving out to your bee yard, if your lucky yours is tucked away behind your house, and suiting up. With your smoker fired up and puffing away you gently smoke the hive entrance of your hive and give a few puffs down from the inner cover of the hive you are about to work on. The bees believing their hive is on fire will rush down to the honeycombs and begin chugging vasts amount of honey to carry away in case Armageddon has truly come upon their hive. With their bellies full, they become more torpid and less inclined to sting. This is the ideal time to begin work.
Many beekeepers work barehanded believing they have more finesse when working with their bees. I find this to be true until the fifth sting. At that point the bees have marked my hand with several invisible signs saying “Sting Here”. The gloves come on and yes my technique becomes slightly more ham-fisted. Even if I had the steady hands of a neurosurgeon, I would still likely incur more stings. Honeybees have the uncanny ability of finding an opening in your clothing. Sometimes they will even sting the side of your head through the wire mesh of the veil if it is not situated properly on your head.
Once finished the beekeeper will move on to the next hive and repeat the cycle. With all of the hives inspected and maintained it is time to go home and have a cold one. Usually I will roll up my bee suit and put it in my open top hive toolbox or hang it on a hook in the basement without a care in the world. Therein lies the problem according to this article. This seemingly benign act opens up the door for potentially severe problems for your loved ones in the house, especially children.
Most beekeepers are stung so many times they develop antibodies which protect them against the proteins found in venom. However the rest of the family may not be so lucky. The clothing of the beekeepers hive becomes imbued with residual amounts of dried bee venom that the other family members in the house will unknowingly inhale. Exposure of very low amounts of bee venom protein on an erratic basis will program the body to produce the “bad” antibodies that lead to an allergic reaction to the bee venom.
This can lead to severe reactions such as itching, swelling, hives, and in a worse case scenario, breathing.
Beekeepers need to be aware of this especially if they are taking their children or grand children out to the hives for the first time. If they have shown these types of reactions in the past it is more than likely they will have a severe reaction out in the bee yard. You need to be prepared for a worse case scenario.
In this case an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Help reduce the chances of your loved ones having a reaction by:
That’s it. Not too much involved to save your kins life. You can also get your family involved with beekeeping. Their constant exposure of larger amounts of bee venom will allow them to build up these “good” antibodies and help prevent a severe allergic reaction. However not everyone is willing to work in the bee yard and you have to respect their wishes by showing due diligence in protecting them from potential reactions.
So remember. When you get home from the bee yard. Take it off. Wash it off.
Ahhh this clears my sinuses better than Thera-Flu
