My own reaction to stings is five minutes of pain followed by two or
three days of swollen tissue and persistent itching. I've scratched at
these areas, sometimes so much as to wear away small patches of skin.
Considering the generally filthy habits of young children, it could have
been this child's fingernails that innoculated the bacteria into the
area of the sting. The worst I've ever seen at the actual site of a
beesting is a pinhead sized wound which may weep slightly for a day or
two and then dry to a pale yellow crust or scab. I've never seen any
kind of inflammation of the tissues adjacent to the point of injection,
merely the general swelling due to the venom. Compared to a host of
insect species, bees lead a pretty clean life; they don't get down in
the dirt much, don't burrow through or eat manure or carrion. From the
standpoint of infection, I would worry much more about bites from wasps
or horseflies.
Shari A. Stocker wrote:
>
> I live in Central PA where a young child died from a bacterial =
> infection.  The bacteria, according to the
> Department of Environmental Protection (PA division) came from a bee =
> sting.