Bee Stings

Stinging insects are everywhere. To most people they’re a nuisance. To those allergic to bees, a sting can be life-threatening. For more information on bee stings, visit our Anaphylaxis web page.

Stinging insects include bees, wasps, black flies, fire ants, and mosquitoes. Other creepy-crawlies include chiggers, ticks, fleas, spiders, scorpions, and snakes. Click the links below to visit the appropriate web page.

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Insect Bites

Snake Bites

Spider Bites

BEES AND WASPS

Wasps include yellow jackets, paper wasps, and hornets. These painful little guys can deliver multiple stings and sometimes attack as a group.

Honeybees have a barbed stinger attached to a sac of venom. The sting remains in the victim’s skin, which means the honeybee can sting only once.

Bumblebees can sting more than once. The queens and workers (which are female) can sting. The stinger is not barbed like that of the honeybee, so they can sting more than once. It’s rare for a bumblebee to sting but the queen and workers are capable.

TREATMENT

Check to see if the stinger is embedded in the skin. If so, pick it off with your fingernail or tweezers. Avoid squeezing the skin, which can release more of the venom from the sac that’s probably attached to the stinger. If you don’t see a stinger, assume there isn’t one.

For pain relief take acetaminophen or ibuprofen. If the sting itches, try Benadryl or other anti-itch medication that contains an antihistamine. Liquid medication works the fastest. You can also try Calamine lotion or any other anti-itch lotion.

 


We also offer a free certificate of completion. To receive the certificate you must pass a 50-question test with a score of 70 or higher. Check our Basic First Aid Certificate of Completion page for more information.

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