10/30/2022
The sharpness of a bees sting is exhibited here in comparison to a pin head. Bees stings evolved to be barbed because their natural predators the honey badgers and bears could be left with sting that will continue to inject venom when released. In turn honey badgers have evolved to have very thick skin. Bees stings have evolved purely for defence. Without the capacity for the colony to survive without a queenbee bees are willing to sacrifice their own life for the life of the their sister/mother. Bees venom is extremely complex is a mixture of histamine, pheromones, enzymes, peptides, amino acids and other acids, with 63 components in total. The main enzymes present are phospholipase A, hyaluronidase, and lecithinase; while the main peptides are mellitin, apamin and peptide 401. In Australia deaths to bee sting are very rare. Most fatalities occur predominantly in men over 40 years of age, which suggests that there may be other contributory risk factors, for example, coronary atherosclerosis. No deaths were reported in individuals aged from six to 19 years, the age group in which bee-sting anaphylaxis is particularly common. One in 250000 people are allergic to bee venom. Soreness and swelling are normal reactions. Bee sting is likely to be the motivation behind acupuncture treatment. Bee venom is used to treat Lyme disease arthritis and widely used in cosmetics .