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Article: Sting quartet.(insect stings)
- Article from:
- Sports Afield
- Article date:
- August 1, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Hearst Communications, reprinted with permission of Hearst. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Every summer, hundreds of thousands of Americans are stung by wasps, hornets and bees. Most suffer only a burning pain. But some 85,000 others must seek medical treatment for allergic reactions, and at least 50 of them die, according to the American Academy of Allergy and immunology.
Four to eight of every 1000 people are allergic to the venom of social wasps and bees, and a sting can prove fatal within 10 to 15 minutes (80 percent of the deaths occur within one hour, which is why stings are responsible for many more deaths in the United States each year than snakebite). If you or a companion ever suffers from an allergic reaction, seek medical treatment ...