Found this <[log in to unmask]> in sci.agriculture.beekeeping:

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From: Murray McGregor <[log in to unmask]>
Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping
Subject: Re: You know you are in a beekeeping family...........

This is something of an old thread now being rehashed under a different
guise.

Allergy in beekeepers families is commonplace.

I also admit to knowing nothing about it until my wife took anaphylactic
shock one day whilst hanging out her washing in her bare feet and trod
on a bee on a clover head.

Three weeks later my older son (8 at the time) was rushed to hospital
after an allergy attack when out with me looking round some bee sites
one evening. Not so severe as anaphylactic shock but alarming just the
same.

A year later his twin sister had the same, and soon after the younger
son, aged 4, sat on a bee at his nursery and had an attack.

So, we had four allergic family members. Time for a bit of research.

We found a book by Dr Laurie croft, the name of which invariably escapes
me, regarding bee sting allergy and its causes.

Now, although there is divergent opinion on exactly what sensitises
people to stings, with some favouring dried venom, others bee hairs and
other proteins, it is best to play safe and assume that ALL these will
cause it ( for practical purposes it doesn't matter, you could not remove
them separately anyway). It was recommended that beekeepers do NOT bring
their overalls home to wash, rather do so at the bee shed or wherever,
anywhere but the home. We did this, installed a washing machine at our
premises, and banned all staff from taking bee related work clothes home
with them.

We now have two more young daughters, and decided to have them given a
RAST (don't know what it stands for, but it is an allergy test) test to
see what level of risk they are at. It reports your risk level on  scale
of 0 to 5, zero is no, or very little risk, 5 is risk of death. Oldest
daughter tested at a 4, mother at 4 to 5, younger daughters 0 to 1.
Therefore all those exposed to the dust (of whatever nature) from the
suits coming home are allergic, and those never exposed to it are not
allergic.

An interesting footnote to this is that the washing machine was
installed in a kitchen area at work, and we have a small unit through
the door from it where we manufacture mustard as a sideline. A year
after we changed the washing arrangements the girl who makes the mustard
turned out allergic, having been quite normal a year before when stung
in the extracting room. I know that is circumstantial, but seem quite a
powerful bit of evidence to me.

My oldest daughter (now 24) is undergoing desensitisation treatment now
as she works in the business, and one day hopes to take over, so we are
all hoping it goes well for her, and we will never forget the lessons of
how she became allergic in the first place.

Anyone got any more amusing anecdotes, which is why I think the thread
was started in the first place?

Murray

--
Murray McGregor


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