Summer Insect Hazards

New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 808, 21 January 1955, Page 16

Summer Insect Hazards

This talk on health was broadcast recently from ZB, YA and YZ

stations of the NZBS by DR.

H. B.

TURBOTT

Deputy-Director- General

of Health

} HILDREN will be romping out of doors through the summer weather. A common accident will be a bee sting. Another increasingly frequent one wiil be a wasp sting, for apparently the stinging wasp is here to stay and a'reacy is well spread over the North island. Some people are not very upset by these stings; others suffer not only the local upset wherever the sting happeued, but a general allergic reaction. This can be so bad as to cause death on occasions. Our newspapers have carried stories recently of bee-sting deaths, fortunately not here, but overseas. After a sting by a bee or a wasp there is immediate pain at the site, followed quickly by redness and swelling. In a susceptible child the swelling may progress and go on increasing for a day or more, remain red and itchy, and be slow to subside. In rare cases, about five minutes after the sting, there is a generalised shock of an allergic naturesuffused face and eyes, puffy skin, a rash with big weals all over the body, sickness, headache and exhaustion. If the sting happens to be on the tongue or elsewhere in the mouth, the swelling is so marked sometimes that suffocation is possible. Both the local and general reactions are from the toxins or poisons in the bee or wasp venom. There are at least two toxins, one of which is a histamine substance responsible for the swellings. What are you going to do for a bee sting? If a sting can be seen, don’t try to pick it out with the fingers. If a bee is instinctively knocked or brushed off as it is stinging, the stinging mechanism, complete with poison sac, is ripped out of the bee’s body, remaining fixed to the sting. If you grip this with the fingers you squeeze more poison into the wound. So scrape the sting out with a sideways action with a knife, a thin bit of stick, or fingernail. Then apply something cold and wet, such as weak household ammonia, strength one part of am-

mMonia in three parts of water, or baking soda made to a paste, or the old blue bag soft and wet and _ plastered on. If the child is shocked, let him lie down covered up, and a drink of coffee would be helpful. What will you do for a wasp. sting? The wasp is nastier

than the bee. It doesn’t leave a sting in the wound but goes on stinging several times unless quickly brushed off. Any cold compress will lessen the pain and swelling. There are advocates for weak acids being added to the compress, such as weak vinegar, lemon juice, or even just rubbing over and binding on a cut lemon. This is on the principle that wasp venom is more alkaline than the bee venom. The authorities don’t support this idea, holding that any cool damp application will give some relief. [ understand Aucklanders, who have much experience of wasp stings, have been using vinegar and lemon juice compresses. Martindale’s Extra Pharmacopoeia, present in every chemist’s shop, says that hyrogen peroxide, full strength, relieves the pain of wasp and hornet stings. Whatever you use, apply as a cold compress, for this, say the scientists, helps towards relief. Treat any shock with rest, lying down, warmly covered. With either bee or wasp stings, if in the mouth and followed by great swelling, or on the body and followed by difficult breathing or general weal-like skin rash or other serious symptoms, get a doctor at once, for the antihistamine drugs and other medical treatment will be needed. A reminder when you take the children for picnics: take some anti-mos-quito and anti-sandfly bite lotion. A good one containing dimethyl-phthalate does keep them off the skin.. A couple of applications, one for the morning and another for the afternoon, will save susceptible children a lot of itching annoyance, and save scratching, with subsequent sores. A further reminder if going

camping: take some five per cent DDT in tale for possibly needed anti-flea protection. Dust it in pyjamas, sheets and blankets, and that will be that! Take some DDT knockdown solution for spraying against flies, too, and have a happy camping time.