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First aid

Dealing with bee stings

From Mr L. Patch, MRPharmS

In the article “Dealing with common injuries” (PJ, March 3, p285) it is stated in the paragraph dealing with insect stings that the sting should be plucked out using fine tweezers. When dealing with bee stings tweezers should never be used.

The bee, having stung, tears itself away leaving the sting in the wound.The sting carries with it two sacs containing the venom and these, still attached to the sting, continue to contract, pumping venom into the wound. If tweezers are used to remove the sting these sacs are squeezed forcing all the remaining venom into the wound. The easiest, quickest and most efficient way to remove sting and sacs is to scratch across the sting with a finger nail. In every case the whole is removed.

During 55 years of bee-keeping I have removed hundreds of stings and never known this method to fail.

The photograph with the article shows a “sting” being removed, this is most certainly not a bee sting. Does any other insect leave its sting behind? I do not know of any. The “sting” being removed looks, to me, very much like a thorn.

L. Patch
Ulverston, Cumbria

Blunt instrument

From Mrs J. M. Barker, MRPharmS

Regarding the removal of insect stings (PJ, March 3, p285), I have always been taught to scrape the sting off with a blunt-edged instrument, eg, the back edge of a knife, or something similar. Grasping the sting with tweezers will risk injecting a large dose of venom into the skin from the sac attached to the sting.

Judith Barker
Halifax, West Yorkshire

Dr LOTTE NEWMAN (medical adviser, St John Ambulance) replies:

St John Ambulance first aid procedures adhere to strict medical protocols. Experts in the medical field regularly review these protocols. In line with new protocols, our first aid training and advice is appropriately updated.

At the current time, the First Aid Manual (7th ed), the official manual of the three voluntary aid societies, states that tweezers can be used as an appropriate method to remove a bee sting.

We do, however, acknowledge that a bee sting can also be removed by a fingernail being scratched across the sting and do also recommend this method in our training.

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