"Bob Harrison" wrote

> In a bee book published last year the following was said as fact:
>
> "With each sting a person gets less tolerant of the venom. Bee venom is
> cumulative"

Clearly rubbish!  If it was correct then beekeepers would have to give up
after they reached a certain number of stings - and there would be very few
commercial beekeepers!

> researchers have told me it takes approx. 150 stings within a 12 month
> period to maintain immunity.

I read 12 (somewhere).

> Full immunity which I believe I carry simply
> put means I can be stung right next to a ring on my finger  and no need to
> remove the ring. Zero swelling.

I would imagine that plenty of us are in that situation.  Initial pain, but
30 seconds later I would not really know where I had been stung.

> I have heard stories of lifelong beekeepers getting hypersensitive to bee
> stings after a lifetime of beekeeping among but have never met one of
these
> in fulltime beekeeper circles.

I have known several, but in each case they were running less than 20
colonies and probably getting few stings. I would suggest that leather
gloves may add to the problem because they allow the odd 'pin prick' rather
than a full sting  and this could be causing sensitisation rather than
immunity.  It is well known that beekeepers' spouses often become allergic
due to low level exposure.

Although it is easy to find references to the use of stings to relieve
arthritis, I cannot find any studies that have looked at the incidence of
arthritis in beekeepers and related this to the frequency of stings (I think
that it would be impossible to measure the actual quantity of venom taken).

Peter Edwards
[log in to unmask]
www.stratford-upon-avon.freeserve.co.uk/

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