3.Bee stings A Lecture By Mr. Allah Dad Khan Former DG Agriculture Extension KPK Province Peshawar

2. Honey Bees Stings
A Lecture by
Mr.Allah dad khan

4. Honey bee and Sting
• A honey bee is able to
sting a person or predator
using its stinger. Honey
bee stings are quite
painful and even life
threatening to a small
percentage of people who
are allergic to the venom.
Honey bees usually sting
as a form of defense of
themselves or their
colony.

5. Honey bee and Sting
• The stinger is barbed and located at the end
the abdomen. It is tied to the digestive tract
of the bee as is the venom sac that produces
the venom. When a honey bee stings, its
stinger, the venom sac and other parts of the
honey bee’s body are pulled out and left
behind, killing the bee. Although the bee
dies, its sting takes effect quickly, and, if the
stinger is not removed quickly, the symptoms
gradually increase as the venom sac
continues to pump venom into the wound.
Since the stinger is barbed, it often becomes
lodged in the tissue of the animal. When a
honey bee stings, it releases an alarm
pheromone to alert the other workers in the
colony. The result is other bees are recruited
to the area to defend the colony as well.

6. Symptoms
•
Honey bee stings are known to be
very painful, but the symptoms that
result from a sting vary, depending
on the amount of poison that has
entered the immune system of the
victim. The initial pain eventually
fades, but only after a period of
swelling and itching. Some individuals
may also experience visible signs,
including redness of the skin around
the sting. Although the honey bee
sting is not commonly hazardous,
some people may be allergic to the
bee’s venom and will experience such
severe side effects as nausea, fainting
and, in extreme cases, death.
•

7. Symptoms
• The numbers of stings
also plays a role in the
effects. As the number of
stings increases, the
severity of reaction also
increases and can be
lethal to anyone if stung
too many times. If a
person is stung or has
medical concerns related
to honey bees, they
should seek a medical
professional.

8. Symptoms
• Rash or hives
• Stomach cramps, nausea,
vomiting, or diarrhea
• Dizziness or severe headache
• Swelling that is not in the
general area of the sting site,
especially in the throat, neck,
or tongue.
• Shortness of breath or
difficulty in swallowing.
• Shock
• Unconsciousness
• Drop in blood pressure

14. Why do honeybees die when they
sting?
• When a honeybee stings, it dies a gruesome
death. The bee’s stinger is structured in such a
way that once it punctures human skin, the bee
can’t yank it out without self-amputating. As the
honeybee tries to pull out the stinger, it ruptures
its lower abdomen, leaving the stinger
embedded, pulling out instead a string of
digestive material, muscles, glands and a venom
sac. What results is a gaping hole at the end of
the abdomen.

16. Honey Bee Dies
• “It’s kind of like bleeding to
death, except bees don’t have
blood,” said Eric Mussen of the
University of California at
Davis. Mussen is an
apiculturist, a fancy word for
beekeeper. “It’s fake, clear
insect blood.”
• The honeybee stinger is
hollow and pointed, like a
hypodermic needle, Mussen
said. It contains two rows of
lancets, or saw-toothed
blades. These blades are
barbed in shape, and face
outward like a harpoon.

17. IA honeybee stinger magnified 650x,
from Rose-Lynn Fisher’s book, BEE.
mage by Rose-Lynn Fisher

18. Venom Sac
• As a bee stings, the blades
alternate, “scissoring
together into your flesh,”
said Mark Winston,
biologist and author of “Bee
Time: Lessons from the
Hive.” It looks — and works
— like a screw anchor,
meaning that once in, the
stinger can’t retract.
Muscles connect the stinger
to a venom sac, from which
a cell-destroying toxin is
pumped into the hole.

20. Venom
• The scent of the venom
released from the honeybee
signals a threat to the hive.
And weirdly, it smells like
bananas, Mussen said.
• But lets back up. It is only
the female honeybees, also
known as the worker bees,
that sting. Each hive
contains some 60,000
worker bees, followed by a
few hundred male drones
and a single female queen
bee.

21. Worker Bees
• Worker bees are like
disposable soldiers for
the colony: their sole
function is to gather
nectar, pollinate, and
defend the base. They
are all infertile females.
The queen lays all eggs
and the drones fertilize
them.

22. Queen Bees Sting
• The queen bee only
stings when fighting for
dominance against
another queen,
Winston said

23. Remember these important steps:
• 1. RUN away quickly. Do
not stop to help others.
However, small children
and the disabled may
need some assistance.

24. Remember these important steps:
• 2. As you are running,
pull your shirt up over
your head to protect
your face, but make
sure it does not slow
your progress. This will
help keep the bees from
targeting the sensitive
areas around your head
and eyes.

26. Remember these important steps:
• 3. Continue to RUN. Do not
stop running until you reach
shelter, such as a vehicle or
building. A few bees may
follow you indoors. However, if
you run to a well-lit area, the
bees will tend to become
confused and fly to
windows.Do not jump into
water! The bees will wait for
you to come up for air. If you
are trapped for some reason,
cover up with blankets,
sleeping bags, clothes, or
whatever else is immediately
available.

27. Remember these important steps:
• 4. Do not swat at the
bees or flail your arms.
Bees are attracted to
movement and crushed
bees emit a smell that
will attract more bees.

28. Remember these important steps:
• 5. Once you have reached
shelter or have outrun
the bees, remove all
stingers. When a honey
bees stings, it leaves its
stinger in the skin. This
kills the honey bee so it
can't sting again, but it
also means that venom
continues to enter into
the wound for a short
time.

29. Remember these important steps:
• 6. Do not pull stingers out
with tweezers or your
fingers. This will only
squeeze more venom into
the wound. Instead,
scrape the stinger out
sideways using your
fingernail, the edge of a
credit card, a dull knife
blade or other straight-
edged object.

30. Remember these important steps:
• 7. If you see someone
being attacked by bees,
encourage them to run
away or seek shelter. Do
not attempt to rescue
them yourself.

31. Remember these important steps:
• 7. If you see someone
being attacked by bees,
encourage them to run
away or seek shelter. Do
not attempt to rescue
them yourself. Call 911 to
report a serious stinging
attack. The emergency
response personnel in
your area have probably
been trained to handle
bee attacks.

32. Remember these important steps:
• 8. If you have been stung
more than 15 times, or are
feeling ill, or if you have any
reason to believe you may
be allergic to bee stings,
seek medical attention
immediately. The average
person can safely tolerate
10 stings per pound of body
weight. This means that
although 500 stings can kill
a child, the average adult
could withstand more than
1100 stings.

33. Remember these important steps also
• Although it may be tempting, DO NOT JUMP
INTO WATER! The bees will wait for you to
come up for air.
• Once you are away from the bees, take a
second and evaluate the situation. If you
have been stung more than 15 times, or if
you are having any symptoms other than
local pain and swelling, seek medical
attention immediately. If you see someone
else being stung or think others are in
danger, call 9-1-1 immediately.
• Many of the safety measures we have just
reviewed would be difficult to apply under
the excitement of an emergency situation if
you have not mentally prepared yourself
ahead of time. Most people taking part in
normal outdoor activities do not have to go
to any extraor dinary lengths to be prepared,
just keep in mind where you would go to
escape honey bees, and be on the look out
for danger.

34. Do's and Dont's:
• 1. Look out for honey bee colonies when
outdoors. There are estimated to be approximately
250,000 wild bee colonies in Arizona. Honey bees
nest in a wide variety of locations, such as pipes,
holes, animal burrows or even in cavities within
saguaro cacti or trees. Be alert for groups of flying
bees entering or leaving an entrance or opening
and listen for buzzing sounds. Be especially alert
when climbing, because honey bees often nest
under rocks or within crevices between rocks. Don't
put your hands where you can't see them.
Not all honey bees you see are a potential threat.
Honey bees often visit campsites for water or
sweets (especially soda containers) or may be seen
visiting flowers for nectar. Bees gathering food or
water are called "foraging" bees. As long as they are
away from the nest, honey bees are not overly
defensive. They will only sting if stepped on or
trapped in some way. On the other hand, a large
number of honey bees foraging in one area may
indicate a colony is nearby. If you inted to camp in
the area, look around for the colony first.

35. 2. If you find a colony of bees, leave them alone and keep
others away
• . Do not shoot, throw rocks at, try
to burn or otherwise disturb the
bees. If the colony is near a trail
or near areas frequently used by
humans, notify your local office
of the Parks Department, Forest
Service, or Arizona Game and Fish
even if the bees appear to be
docile. Honey bee colonies vary in
behavior over time, especially
with changes in age and season.
Small colonies are less likely to be
defensive than large colonies, so
you may pass the same colony for
weeks and then one day provoke
them unexpectedly.

36. Do's and Dont's:
• 3. Keep your dogs
under control. If a dog
disturbs a colony when
bounding through the
bush, it is likely to bring
the bees back to you.

37. 4. Wear light colored clothes,
including socks
• . Bees target objects that
resemble their natural
predators (bears and
skunks) when they defend
their nests, so they tend
to go after dark leathery
or furry objects. Keep in
mind that bees see the
color red as black, so
flourescent orange is a
better choice when
hunting.

38. Do's and Dont's:
• .
• 5. Avoid wearing scents of any
sort when hiking. Africanized
honey bees communicate to one
another using scents, and tend to
be quite sensitive to odors. Avoid
strongly scented shampoo, soaps,
perfumes, heavily scented gum,
etc. If riding, avoid using fly
control products on your horse
with a "lemony" or citrus odor.
Such odors are known to provoke
or attract honey bees.
• .
.

39. 6. Be particularly careful when
using hany heavy equipment that
produces sound vibrations, such as
chainsaws, weed eaters, tractors or
generators.

40. 7. Keep escape routes in mind.
• If at all possible, avoid
areas where you cannot
escape quickly if
attacked

41. 8. If you know you are allergic
• to bee stings, always
have someone else with
you when doing
outdoor activities.

42. SO LET'S GO THROUGH SOME THINGS TO HELP
REDUCE STINGS:
• 1) Choose a good
day. A good day is
warm, very sunny, high
pressure or barometric
on the rise, and not real
windy.

43. 2) Choose a good time.
• Between 10 a.m. and 2
p.m. Working bees prior
to 10 a.m. or after 2
p.m. invites stings
simply because there
are more bees at home.
Between 10 and 2, the
foragers are out, the
hive is smaller and you
can better manipulate
your hive.

44. 3) No perfume, hairspray or heavy
soap
• smell. If you get all
prettied-up to work
your hive, it could turn
ugly. But, bad body
odor can also draw
some stings. So, be
clean, but don't over do
it.

45. 4) Never wear dark clothing!
• Bees sting dark areas.
They resist white. Wear
white, especially socks
if you do not wear
boots.

46. 5) Do not swat at a bee that is buzzing around your
head. Swatting will NOT make a bee go away. It has the
opposite effect.
• She will become much more aggressive if you
swat at her and she will pursue you if you
run. Bees can fly up to 18 mph. Can you out
run a bee? No. So, be still, and wait and see if
she will go away. Usually a guard bee is the
first to buzz your face, making a louder than
normal buzzing sound to intimidate you. It
works too! But, no matter how loud she
buzzes, the stinger is the same size and
doesn't hurt any more or any less so do not
fall for the buzzing intimidation. Be still and
see if she will get tired and retreat. I've
worked several hours in a bee yard with the
same bee buzzing my face. She never did
anything more than "got in my face" but my
veil held her at bay and I ignored her and
finished my work. DON'T SWAT!!! I know it is
a natural reaction, but DON'T DO IT! Got it?
You cannot swat at honeybees!!

47. 6) Avoid sweating or breathing heavily onto the bees.
• Don't hold your breath.
Breath normally, just
avoid breathing close
up on a frame. On hot
and humid days, lean
over slightly to the side
of a hive so that if you
sweat, it will not fall
onto the bees.

48. 7) Bees are most calm during a nectar
flow.
• However, I don't like to
interrupt the hive
operation during a strong
nectar flow because this
could reduce my honey
production. But, they are
the most calm when the
flow is on. By flow, I am
referring to a time when
several floral sources are
producing an abundance
of nectar

49. 8) Always use a smoker!
• You MUST smoke your
hive. Smoke the hive, but
be gentle and don't over
smoke them. A little
smoke goes a long way to
calm a hive. Do not work
your bees without
smoking them! Untreated
burlap makes good
smoker fuel. I use pine
needles and mulch as my
smoker fuel.

50. 9) Calm and gentle movements.
• No sudden movements and
by all means don't drop a
frame or a hive tool on the
bees. Bees can't hear, but
they are very sensitive to
vibrations. If you do drop
something or tip a hive
over, back away slowly,
stand still if you are not
being pursued heavily,
smoke and try to get things
back together once the
bees have calmed down. It
happens to the best of us.

51. 10) Always wear a hat and veil
• . You may not care
about being stung
below your head, but
you cannot risk being
stung in the face or eye.
Wear a hat and veil or
you will regret it. And if
you want to avoid being
stung, wear protective
gear and duct tape all
clothing gaps

52. CAN HONEY BEE STINGS REALLY
PROVIDE HEALTH BENEFITS?
• Beekeeping can provide health benefits. Bee
stings should never be used in place of medical
treatment. Many people, including some doctors
have found that honey and bee sting therapy can
be an effective healing aid. Some people have
claimed that bee sting therapy has helped with
MS, arthritis and other health problems. This
approach should always be pursued only under
the recommendation and close observation of a
medical doctor.