Bee venom

[Turnedlight]

Sorry I'm possibly coming across as a bit 'bristly' today

[jiml]

Sorry I'm possibly coming across as a bit 'bristly' today    

not to me

[Fred]

Not sure if it's the same type of treatment but I've just been reading there has been a death and thought it may be of interest.

Quote:

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Apitherapy is the use of substances from honeybees (eg, honey, propolis, royal jelly, or even venom), to relieve various medical conditions. One type of apitherapy is live bee acupuncture, which involves applying the stinging bee directly to the relevant sites according to the specific disease. This practice is often performed in private health care centers or by nonmedical practitioners. Although some benefits of apitherapy have been reported, published evidence of its effectiveness and safety is limited, scarce, and heterogeneous.

We report the case of a 55-year-old woman who had been attending apitherapy sessions every 4 weeks for 2 years with good tolerance. She decided to receive apitherapy to improve muscular contractures and stress. She had no clinical record of  any  other  diseases  (eg,  asthma,  heart  disease),  other risk factors, previous reactions of any kind with hymenoptera, or atopy. During an apitherapy session, she developed wheezing, dyspnea, and sudden loss of consciousness immediately after a live bee sting.

In vivo tests could not be performed because the patient had  eceived  antihistamine and her clinical situation was problematic. The patient died some weeks later of multiorgan failure. Persistent hypotension during severe anaphylaxis had caused a massive watershed  stroke  and  permanent  coma  with multiorgan impairment. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of death by  bee  venom  apitherapy  due  to  complications  of  severe anaphylaxis in a confirmed sensitized patient who was previously tolerant.

Our data enable us to conclude that measures to identify sensitized patients at risk should be implemented before each apitherapy sting. Patients should be fully informed of the dangers of apitherapy before undergoing it. Apitherapy practitioners should be trained in managing severe reactions and should be able to ensure they perform their techniques in a safe environment, with adequate facilities for management of  anaphylaxis  and  rapid  access  to  an intensive  care  unit  in order to prevent suboptimal management, such as delays in treatment. However, these measures may not be possible. Therefore, the risks of undergoing apitherapy may exceed the presumed benefits, leading us to conclude that this practice is both unsafe and unadvisable.

Source: jiaci.org

[Turnedlight]

Ooer! That’s unfortunate.. perhaps she was allergic to stings anyway but didn’t know? I had a friend at school who carried an epipen in case she was stung.
Does sound like she was trying the sort of therapy I originally read about.

[jiml]

It’s a sad story for the woman for sure..... also for the bees ... I see it was live bee sting, don’t bees die after they sting?

It would be interesting to know what sort of practice was carrying this out, and didn’t they have an antidote ready in case of such a situation

[Fred]

Ooer! That’s unfortunate.. perhaps she was allergic to stings anyway but didn’t know? I had a friend at school who carried an epipen in case she was stung.
Does sound like she was trying the sort of therapy I originally read about.

She had sessions every 4 weeks for 2 years with good tolerance. The report also says "Previous tolerance to bee stings does not prevent
hypersensitivity reaction
.

It’s a sad story for the woman for sure..... also for the bees ... I see it was live bee sting, don’t bees die after they sting?

It would be interesting to know what sort of practice was carrying this out, and didn’t they have an antidote ready in case of such a situation

I thought they died too after stinging. So not good for the bees.  

My understanding is that the apitherapy clinic isn't registered or monitored in any way. They had administered methylprednisolone and called an ambulance.

[jiml]

I wonder what was put on her death certificate “misadventure” or could it be “accidental death “ or something else  

[Fred]

I wonder what was put on her death certificate “misadventure” or could it be “accidental death “ or something else  

Sorry I don't have that information. But I would put "Self Inflicted"

[Bill]

No, it is medical negligence. I would bet that the charlatans did not even have an epipen on hand to deal with the onset of shock.

[jiml]

No, it is medical negligence. I would bet that the charlatans did not even have an epipen on hand to deal with the onset of shock.

So a bit like corporate manslaughter ?