APIMEDICA Presentation: Bee Venom Therapy in Japan

APIMEDICA 2006, October 12-15, 2006, Athens, Greece
Presenter: Hirofumi Naito, Kofu Honeybee Research Laboratory, Vice President of Nippon Apitherapy Society

Summary Points:

Beekeeping in Japan began in the 19th Century when Western honey bees were first introduced.
Bee Venom Therapy (BVT) began in the 1930s.
Around 1940, several doctors published booklets about BVT.
Japanese BVT is the method of acquiring the greatest effect by the minimal amount of bee venom.

Characteristic of Japanese BVT:

Remove the stinger with a forceps.
Sting several times very lightly.
Stinging points are mostly all over the recipient’s body.
Sting points where parasympathetic nerve are known to be stimulated.

Quantity of Venom:

QV-I - Skin is pierced and stinger immediately withdrawn
QV-II - Stinger left in about 0.5 seconds
QV-III - Stinger left in about 1-2 seconds
For I-III - Wait 5-6 seconds after removing the stinger before treatment
QV-IV - Immediately after removal the stinger is left in for 5 seconds
QV-V - Direct sting

Attaining BVA (Bee Venom Acceptable) level generally takes one to six months (receiving BVT once a week), with the average recipient requiring between two and three months.

However, factors such as age, gender, weight, health condition, and use of tobacco or alcohol create such a remarkable difference between individuals that predicting the amount of time it will take at the beginning of treatment is close to impossible.