From T. J. Andrews
Cheddar, Somerset
Your item on removal of bee stings may give readers the wrong advice (In
Brief, 10 August, p 13). Kirk Visscher compares squeezing with scraping the
sting out. I suspect that he implies squeezing the flesh around the wound, which
probably does not differ greatly from scraping.
However, the danger with squeezing such a small area is that victims may
accidentally squeeze the venom sac, which is often attached to the sting and
lancets; consequently more venom is injected. Also, in my experience of 20 years
of beekeeping, scraping is much more efficient than squeezing.
Any beekeeper would agree that time is more important than anything. Don’t
waste time looking for a knife or other implement but simply scratch the sting
out with the fingernail as quickly as possible.
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