The Claim: Bee Stings Can Be Treated by Scraping Out Stingers 

GO TO: www.apitherapynews.com

THE FACTS: For treating bee stings, many medical texts and first aid
guides recommend a time-honored approach: grab a sharp object, apply it
to the skin and gently scrape away the stinger.

The point is to get the stinger out without squeezing or pulling, which
increases the odds of more venom entering the wound.

But there is a small problem. Multiple studies have found that when it
comes to treating bee stings, it is time, not method, that makes the
difference.

One study, published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology,
demonstrated this several years ago. In it, researchers collected
honeybees and provoked them into stinging disks made from filter paper
and other surfaces, which they weighed at different intervals in the
stinging process. 

At the end of the study, the researchers pooled their results and found
that on average a stinger released 90 percent of its venom within 20
seconds…

THE BOTTOM LINE Scraping away a stinger has no advantage over grabbing
or pulling it. Only speed makes a difference. 

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