****************************************** Blane White MN Dept of Agriculture >>> Bill Truesdell <[log in to unmask]> 05/14/99 04:15PM >>> Blaine, Did they giive a reason why family members had a higher risk? Comes back to changing the bee suit in the house as the only one my friend can figure out. Hi Bill and everyone, Sorry, I forgot to include the reason or current thinking for the reaction in family members of beekeepers. They are exposed to venom ( usually dried ) on clothing etc and breath it in. There seems to be an important difference due to mode of exposure - injection ( stings ) tend to lead to desentization while breathing in the venom tends to lead to allleryg. This is the reason that I wash my own beekeeping clothing and it is washed seperatly from the rest of the laundry. The family members at greatest risk are those who never work the bees and therefore are very rarely stung but do breath the dried venom. Hope this helps. blane