This is a comment I was thinking of making re the prior discussion on stinging.
 
A colleague working with beekeepers and AHB in Nicaragua reports that, even
though the beekeepers could get "suited up" sufficiently to avoid direct stings,
their beekeeping work was sometimes impaired by the venom which got into their
eyes from the bees outside their veils.(Their eyes would become irritated and
swollen, even without a sting.)
 
I've never heard of bees "projecting" venom, or of a similar experience with
EHB. Perhaps the venom was deposited on the screen, dried and blew as particles
into their eyes. If so, I wonder what effect breathing so much dried venom would
have on sting reactions (isn't breathing dried venom one hypothesis for the
hypersensitivity (IgE antibodies) to bee venom observed among immediate family
members of beekeepers?).
 
 
Kerry Clark, Apiculture Specialist
B.C. Ministry of Agriculture
1201 103 Ave
Dawson Creek B.C.
	V1G 4J2  CANADA		 Tel (604) 784-2225	fax (604) 784-2299
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