"But factors like repeated exposure to bee stings are decisive in enhancing the risk and severity," he said. "At the moment, there's no validated way to know whether a patient is going to become sensitized to bee venom and develop a reaction," he said. "This death could have been prevented if the adequate treatment strategies, risk management protocols, allergy trained staff and adequate installations had been available," said Madrigal-Burgaleta, who now works at Homerton University Hospital in London. In a matter of weeks, the woman died of multiple organ failure. Later, a CT scan showed watershed stroke: cell death caused by blocked blood flow in the brain's "watershed" region, where two arteries supply blood. Though her blood pressure and heart rate stabilized, she had become comatose and so required intubation.Īt the hospital, an EKG, a chest x-ray and basic blood analyses all showed normal results for the still-comatose woman. In transit to the hospital, the woman was given a double dose of epinephrine, infusions of saline solution, corticosteroids and antihistamines. By that time, the woman's systolic blood pressure had plummeted, and her heart was racing. It took 30 minutes for the ambulance to arrive. Epinephrine, the usual treatment for extreme allergic reactions, was not available. Rush to the hospitalĪfter calling an ambulance, her worried acupuncturist administered methylprednisolone, a drug used to calm allergic reactions. In fact, her medical record recorded no history or mention of asthma, heart disease or allergies of any kind or to insects in particular.īut one day, during her monthly session, the woman began to wheeze and find it difficult to breathe after the first live bee sting. The woman had shown no negative side effects to bee sting acupuncture, he said.
The case study was published in the current issue of the Journal of Investigational Allergology and Clinical Immunology. Ricardo Madrigal-Burgaleta, senior author of a case studydescribing the Spanish woman's experience and previously her doctor at Madrid's Ramon y Cajal University Hospital. Live bee sting acupuncture "is a technique that is becoming more widely available" around the world, said Dr. Apitherapy - the medicinal use of bee hive products, including honey, pollen and bee venom - was the woman's go-to treatment for stress and contractures, a tightening of her muscles that caused stiff joints. Once a month for two years, a 55-year-old woman in Madrid had gone for acupuncture therapy using live bee stings.
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