CON: Bee Sting Therapy No Help in Multiple Sclerosis

By Anne Harding, Reuters, 12/20/05

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Bee sting therapy is not effective in treating the symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS), and does not improve quality of life, according to the first controlled study to investigate the alternative treatment in MS patients.

Patients with MS should not undergo bee venom therapy "unless better evidence to justify its use becomes available," warn Dr. Jacques De Keyser of the University Medical Center Groningen in The Netherlands and colleagues in the journal Neurology this month. . .

A Randomized Crossover Study of Bee Sting Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis

Results: During bee sting therapy, there was no significant reduction in the cumulative number of new gadolinium-enhancing lesions. The T2*-weighted lesion load further progressed, and there was no significant reduction in relapse rate. There was no improvement of disability, fatigue, and quality of life. Bee sting therapy was well tolerated, and there were no serious adverse events.

Conclusions: In this trial, treatment with bee venom in patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis did not reduce disease activity, disability, or fatigue and did not improve quality of life.