Systemic Bee Stings

Local family helps honeybees thrive

Beekeepers in western countries have been reporting the die-off of honeybees for several years. In addition to his hives on his property on Smith Street, he said he helps out the other Islanders who keep bees with his beekeeping equipment and knowledge. There are a lot who do, he said. With the decline in the honeybee population in many parts of the world, “A lot of people are getting bees on the Island” to do what they can to reverse the trend, he said. Mr. Brigham said the family tradition was started by his grandfather, Alfred Kilb, who was a master beekeeper with hives all over the Island. Mr. Brigham and his wife Rachel keep the tradition despite their busy lives as teachers and parents of three children, Alfred Jr., 5, Elsie May, 3, and Lily, 9 months. Ms. Brigham is a teacher at the Shelter Island School and Mr. Brigham is a teacher in the Hampton Bays district. Mr. Brigham now adds to his community responsibilities his new position on the Shelter Island School Board of Education. With the recent addition of the Island’s Saturday farmer’s market, the Brighams have a new outlet at which to sell their honey as well as other products made by Rachel, such as beeswax candles, lip balm and skin cream. She is also from a family with a long history on the Island, the  Reylek-Clark family — that’s the Mashomack Clarks. Her father, Robert Reylek, was very involved in the local educational system, serving on the school board for 21 years, many as board president. Ms. Brigham said she was taught how to make beeswax candles from her grandfather-in-law, the late Alfred Brigham.  Winter survival is another challenge for the honeybees, which stop foraging when temperatures drop below 50 degrees. They crowd into the central area of the hive around the queen bee. The worker bees rotate through the cluster from the outside to the inside so that no bee gets too cold; they consume their stored honey to produce body heat. Mr. Brigham said he wraps his hives in tar paper to help them to retain warmth. Mr. Brigham said bees might sting someone who approaches their hive directly, but stinging is not usually a problem. The Brighams’ children play in the yard where there are also goats, chickens and a vegetable garden. The Brighams’ honey stand is in front of their house on Smith Street, the same house that Mr. Brigham grew up in. The stand provides enough revenue to keep the hobby going and the bees alive.

Life Outtacontext: The Attack of the Wasps!

Last Sunday at 11 a.m. I was attacked by a swarm of wasps. More on that in a minute. But first, what good is a trauma like this if you can’t come out of it with a good story. A good story is the souvenir of traumas —providing you recover.

Two decades ago I was visiting my friends Bob and Ellen in San Francisco when we decided to go camping in Yosemite. I’m a California native but had never been to this national park. Bob and Ellen found this odd, but mostly sad, and they took it upon themselves to fix this. So we traveled from sea level to 11,000 feet in one glorious day. Except, by the time we got to Tuolumne Meadows to begin our hike it was nearing dusk and I was starting to feel a bit queasy. Sunset turned into night. Queasy turned into altitude sickness and we were all so tired we just slung our food over a low branch, rather than follow the strict guidelines for keeping bears at bay.

In the middle of the night we were attacked by said bear. The details of this encounter have become legendary and, much to the chagrin of our friends, have been told and retold a thousand times. Over the years, the details of our attack have diverged. Bob, Ellen, and I all now tell very different stories (the bear was light brown, no, black, no, dark brown). Most importantly, our relationship was forever cemented by this event. But if it wasn’t for me, there wouldn’t have been a story.

The next day, tired and traumatized, we had to move to a new campsite at 6,000 feet so I could recover from the high altitude. There we happened upon friends of Bob’s and Ellen’s. Still in shock, they started to retell their tale: “Guess what? Last night a bear came in to our campsite.” They waited for the expected reaction of horror and sympathy. Yet, there was none. “Oh yeah, that happened to us a while back,” their friends replied. Bob and Ellen were crestfallen. It was time to step in. “Friends,” I said, “you need to know how to tell a good story. You don’t say ‘a bear came into our campsite.’ You say ‘Guess what? We were attacked by a bear!’”

And so, I was attacked by a swarm of wasps. Only this time I really was ATTACKED. Relentlessly.

A couple months ago we reseeded our lawn and after nurturing the new grass it was finally time to mow. It was hot and muggy and I constantly had to wave the gnats away from my face. We never had gnats before. Suddenly, the “gnats” started stinging. As I look back now, everything seemed to happen in slow motion. I remember my surprise at this sudden gnat aggressiveness until it dawned on me. These were no longer small harmless bugs. I didn’t actually see the wasps. Not yet. But I instinctively tried to protect myself as I ran to the front door. Which was locked. I pounded and heard someone scream. Me. Simultaneously, I was both being attacked and completely disembodied.

The beekeeper's handbook

Systemic Reaction A good summary of bee stings can be found in JO Schmidt, " Allergy to Venomous Insects," in Chapter 27 of Graham's 1992 edition of The Hive ...

Pediatric allergy, asthma and immunology

However, in children sequential bee-sting challenges have a high negative predictive value of 94.6% for the risk of further systemic reactions [112] and may ...

Entomology abstracts

Systemic bee sting reactions were present in 50 (26%) and large local reactions in 73 (38%) of the beekeepers. Similar reactions following wasp stings were ...

SAMJ

Untreated patients with generalised reactions to bee stings have a 27 - 61% risk of a systemic reaction to a future sting. This risk drops to 2% after 5 ...

Pests of Paradise, First Aid and Medical Treatment of Injuries from Hawaii's Animals

Epinephrine is the treatment for both multiple bee stings and for systemic allergic reactions to bee stings. Follow this with antihistamines and treatment ...