Stinger Releases 90 Percent of Venom Within 20 Seconds

The Claim: Bee Stings Can Be Treated by Scraping Out Stingers
By Anahad O'Connor, The New York Times, 5/30/2006

THE FACTS: For treating bee stings, many medical texts and first aid guides recommend a time-honored approach: grab a sharp object, apply it to the skin and gently scrape away the stinger.

The point is to get the stinger out without squeezing or pulling, which increases the odds of more venom entering the wound.

But there is a small problem. Multiple studies have found that when it comes to treating bee stings, it is time, not method, that makes the difference.

One study, published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, demonstrated this several years ago. In it, researchers collected honeybees and provoked them into stinging disks made from filter paper and other surfaces, which they weighed at different intervals in the stinging process.

At the end of the study, the researchers pooled their results and found that on average a stinger released 90 percent of its venom within 20 seconds…

THE BOTTOM LINE: Scraping away a stinger has no advantage over grabbing or pulling it. Only speed makes a difference.

PHOTO: A doctor Yu Huaping displays dead bees used for medical treatment at a clinic in the suburbs of Hefei, central China's Anhui province May 24, 2006. Yu, the doctor of the clinic, uses bee venom, which is released into the patient's body when the bee stings, to cure diseases such as rheumatism, high blood pressure and psoriasis. REUTERS/Jianan Yu