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.

The proportion of patients showing subjective or temporary improvement was about the same in the subdivisions of the treated group, as well as in the control group. This improvement could be attributed to psychic benefit alone.

Hollander, J. L. (1941). Bee venom in the treatment of chronic arthritis. The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, 201(6), 796-801.

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html