The notion that infrequent bee stings induce allergies (implied from these
posts) and multiple stings do not is patently wrong.

Ok, I've suffered from allergies all my life, was one of the first peope
ever given desensitizing shots (five years of them).  My dad was severely
allergic to vespid stings.  Fortunately, I'm not.

Ok, our crews over the last 30 years have had the occasional person become
allergic (shortness of breath, heart pounding, off to the emergency room).

Comments:

1)  The number one scenario for this, in our experience, has been novice
beekeepers who don't wear gloves (because their packages are mild tempered)
often get a surprise when the population expands rapidly.  Suddenly the
colony that could barely keep things going and couldn't spare many bees for
guard duty, now has lots of angry bees.  Result, multiple stings and a
'sick' beekeeper (soaking in the tub, swollen, upset) -- but not having an
allergic reaction.

A very high proportion of these people will have an allergic reaction next
time that they get stung -- assuming some days have past since the initial
sting event.

2) However, as Bob notes, we've also had people go into an allergic
response after no more than 3 stings.  But, that doesn't mean that multiple
or frequent stings will NOT lead to an allergic reaction.

People tend to either get less reactive OR more reactive with successive
stings, whether accumulated over a long time, or in one massive dose.

3)  People sometimes have unexpected reactions.  We took one of our
colleagues to the emergency room this year.  He was one of my fellow
scientists, who worked bees for 30 years.  Many years ago, he had rather
pronounced swelling from a sting.  Over last four years, he's been stung,
no reaction -- just a red spot and small welt.  He took 1 sting in the lab
this summer.  Came over to my office, said he felt funny, had been stung
just a few minutes before.  He looked flushed, said his lips were tingling,
felt a bit nauseous.  I gave him a couple of anti-histamines.  Five minutes
later, his student came running in, said he'd passed out, was convulsing!

He came to by the time the emergency folks arrived, started to walk out
with them, just about passed out again.  Fortunately, by the time he got to
the ER, the antihistamines were kicking in -- they ran some tests,
monitored him, and released him with a box of Epi pens.

4)  Low exposure can lead to sensitivity, but that's more likely to be the
kind of  really low exposure that a beekeeper's family experiences (dirty
clothing), etc.  A Missoula M.D. did some of the pioneer work on this
phenomenon.  Take home, wash your clothes at the warehouse.  Keep your
truck clean.

Low level exposures over long periods of time can result in heightened
sensitivity.

I had a friend who was a mechanic.  Years of exposure to grease left him
unable to even ride in a car.  I've seen similar with entomologists working
in an insectary (dusts, chemicals from the insects).

5) Like Bob H., my resistance to bee stings is high, and I don't want that
to change.  It drops a bit over the winter, if fully protective by early
summer, so I don't go out of my way to avoid bee stings.  However, I
wouldn't want to quit for some years, then start again -- never know which
way my body might decide to go upon re-introduction.

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