In my article on Bee Stings, I wrote;

In fact, despite being stung, many
beekeepers have arthritis, as I alluded to
in the study from Spain. This anecdote is
from The American Journal of the Medical
Sciences:

The most interesting, and perhaps
most significant, case was that of J. R.
For 23 years this man had suffered from
rheumatoid arthritis, and his principal
occupation for the past 18 years was
keeping bees! He had been stung hundreds
of times and he had “sold” bee
stings to other arthritics, but still had
the complaints and deformities characteristic
of advanced atrophic arthritis.
This patient was given a course of bee
venom injections with no improvement
at all. It must be stated, however, that
he was actually immune to bee stings,
there being no local or general reaction
following large doses of venom (Hollander,
1941).

The investigator, Joseph Hollander,
conducted the first controlled trial of bee
venom therapy for the treatment of rheumatoid
arthritis. Twenty-four patients were
given injections equivalent to 10-30 stings
per treatment, twice a week for 9 weeks.
Control subjects were injected with a milk
protein mixture. The improvement rate
was 29% for the venom injections and
33% for the controls. Essentially, there
was no difference whatever between the
treatment and the sham. This study is not
quoted by bee venom proponents. 

PLB

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