FNZ 57 - Apoidea (Insecta: Hymenoptera) - Human health
Donovan, BJ 2007. Apoidea (Insecta: Hymenoptera). Fauna of New Zealand 57, 295 pages.
(
ISSN 0111-5383 (print),
;
no.
57.
ISBN 978-0-478-09389-6 (print),
).
Published 07 Sep 2007
ZooBank: http://zoobank.org/References/B2070E05-13B6-4CBF-9A0A-0ACE40FA4796
Human health
Female bees of all species possess a sting. All native bees and the adventive, solitary bees are non-aggressive towards humans, but at least some species will sting if trapped against the skin, for example by clothing. These bees seem to be able to readily withdraw their stings and sting again, and perhaps sting several times. From personal experience and from those half dozen or so subjects I have observed being stung, the maximum pain seemed to be much less than that from a honey bee sting, and skin reactions ranged from a slight reddening a few millimetres around the sting insertion site, to irregular reddening and swelling out to several centimetres.
Bumble bees are non-aggressive when foraging. Several thousand colonies of B. hortorum and a few score each of B. ruderatus and B. subterraneus have been handled by more than a dozen people over the last 35 years, but only a few stings have been inflicted by the first 2 species when accidentally pressed against the skin. Most reactions were minor, but several people experienced some localised swelling, and dizziness and nausea. Worker B. terrestris can be very aggressive when nests are disturbed, and many people have suffered painful stings. Most reactions have been similar to those from the other species of bumble bees, but there is 1 report of anaphylactic shock including a strong cardiac reaction from 2 stings (Donovan 1978).
Worker honey bees inflict stings on many thousands of the general public annually. Foraging bees are rarely aggressive, and if disturbed usually simply fly off. Most stings result from accidental contact by people with bees in such a manner that the bees may be squashed, for example by a foot, which triggers a stinging reflex as a natural self-defence mechanism. Bees will defend their hive and the vicinity of the hive. Intrusion of people into the flight path of foragers near a hive may trigger a stinging response from a number of bees. Direct disturbance of a bee colony or its immediate surroundings will usually result in mass attack by up to many hundreds of very aggressive bees. Beekeepers are stung regularly because of their direct contact with bees as hives are manipulated.
Reactions by people to stings range from localised pain at the sting site, which usually disappears within a few minutes, and which may be followed by slight localised reddening and swelling, to anaphylactic shock and possibly death. Annually, numerous people seek medical treatment and a number are hospitalised. From July 2001 to November 2003, the Accident Compensation Corporation received claims from 13,133 people for losses caused by honey bee stings, for which it paid out $662,349.00 (Julie McBurney, ACC Communications Manager, pers. comm.) The number of deaths is uncertain as there are no separate statistics for bee stings as a cause of death (Rebecca Kay, New Zealand Health Information Service, pers. comm.), but the frequency of deaths reported by the news media suggests a death occurs about every several years. Many thousands of people who are known to be allergic to bee stings carry pre-loaded adrenaline syringes that can be used immediately after a sting is received. Bees entering vehicles through open windows may also be implicated as the cause of some vehicle crashes, through either stinging the drivers, and/or causing distracting fear to drivers. From the human health aspect, honey bees are the most venomous animals in New Zealand.
On the other hand, recent research has shown that honey has medicinal properties, such as the ability to control some bacteria which are resistant to many antiseptics. General antibacterial activity in all honeys is due to the production of hydrogen peroxide (Molan 1999), but some honey produced from some stands of manuka, Leptospermum scoparium, possesses a non-hydrogen peroxide ‘unique manuka factor’ (UMF), that is an even more powerful antibacterial agent (Molan 2001). Manuka honey with a high UMF can fetch the beekeeper around $30/kg, and is sold on as a medicine rather than as a food.