How to quickly treat a hand stung by a bee, wasp or hornet?

In daily life, many friends have experienced being stung by bees or hornets. Once stung, the pain can be unbearable, so what should you do if stung by a bee? How to treat it quickly? There are many kinds of stinging bees, including honeybees, wasps, hornets and ground bees. The female bees have a venomous stinger at the end of their abdomen. When a bee stings a person, it injects venom into the body, causing severe pain and swelling. In serious cases, there may be shortness of breath and confusion, so friends should pay enough attention to this.

There are many families and species of bees in nature with different names, such as “honeybee”, “wasp”, “hornet” and so on. But they have one thing in common: they all have a “stinger” at the tail, and for self-defense they will use the “stinger” to fight back against enemies that invade.

Although bees have the stinger weapon, they do not actively attack humans and abide by the principle of “if others do not attack me, I will not attack them”. As long as you do not provoke them, you will not be harmed. So when playing outdoors, pay attention to staying away from grass and bushes, do not provoke or catch bees, and if you find a beehive, quietly go around it.

What should you do if stung by a bee? How to treat it quickly?

Remove the stinger:After being stung by a bee, carefully check the wound. If the bee's tail stinger (venomous needle) is still in the skin, you can use tweezers or the tip of a needle to gently press the skin near the wound so that more of the stinger is exposed, then use tweezers to pull it out. Note: do not squeeze the wound, to avoid spreading the venom.

Wash: Once stung by a bee, wash the wound with warm water, soapy water, salt water or sugar water; if there is no water, fresh urine can also be used. If there is a remaining stinger in the wound, it should be removed immediately.

Apply medicine: Wanhua oil, safflower oil, green ointment and so on can all be used. You can also mash or chew ginger, garlic, purslane (a kind of wild vegetable) and apply it to the wound.

Seek medical care: If symptoms such as headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, irritability or fever appear, you should immediately go to the hospital for treatment. What are the symptoms of bee stings? There are many kinds of bees, such as honeybees, wasps, hornets, ground bees and so on. Male bees do not harm people, because they have no venom glands and no stingers; those that sting are all female bees (worker bees). The female bee has a stinger at the end of the abdomen connected to a venom gland, and when the stinger penetrates the human body it immediately injects venom.

When a honeybee stings a person, it often leaves its stinger in the wound; while a wasp retracts its stinger after stinging and can continue to harm people. Bee venom mainly contains formic acid, neurotoxins and histamine, which can cause hemolysis and bleeding, has an inhibitory effect on the central nervous system, and can also cause allergic reactions in some stung people. After a person is stung by a bee, mild cases only show local redness, swelling, pain and a burning sensation, and there may also be blisters, ecchymosis and local lymph node enlargement, which disappear on their own within several hours to 1-2 days. If the body is stung in many places by a swarm of bees, it often causes systemic symptoms such as fever, headache, dizziness, nausea, restlessness and fainting.

In people allergic to bee venom, it can cause urticaria, rhinitis, swelling of the lips and eyelids, abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. In a few severe cases, it can lead to laryngeal edema, wheezing, difficulty breathing and coma, and eventually death due to respiratory and circulatory failure.

How to judge the venom

If stung by an ordinary honeybee, its venom is “acidic”, so you can rinse or rub the wound with “alkaline solutions” such as soapy water or baking soda water, to neutralize the venom and relieve swelling and pain.

If stung by a wasp, its venom is “alkaline”, so you can rub the wound with “weakly acidic liquids” such as vinegar, so that it neutralizes the venom and can have a pain-relieving and itch-relieving effect.

It should also be noted that you cannot rub the wound with medicines such as red merbromin or iodine tincture, otherwise it will only worsen the swelling at the stung area. If the swelling is severe, you can apply a cold compress to the wound with a wet towel, which will have a relieving effect.

If stung more than 10 times, especially if the stung person's urine turns the color of soy sauce, you should go to the hospital as soon as possible and must not delay!

Practical prevention tips

In daily life and outdoor activities, strictly follow these five principles:

1. Stay away from bees, do not actively attack them. If a bee lands on your head or shoulder, gently shake it off; do not swat it. If you encounter a swarm attack, immediately squat down on the spot and use clothing to protect your head (bees like to attack people's heads). Drinks and other sweet food waste from daily life should be sealed in garbage bags.

2. Do not wear brightly colored clothes when going up mountains or into the wild.

3. Do not apply perfume during outdoor activities, and do not use fragrant shampoo or deodorant.

4. Try to wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants, and wear a hat when going up mountains, to protect your body. At swimming pools and seaside beaches, pay attention to checking whether there are hornets in damp bath towels.

5. After being stung, go to the hospital for treatment in time, to avoid the spread of bee venom and serious consequences.