Bee sting: Fatal or Therapy

A Honeybee’s lifestyle begins with the building up of its hives on trees, at moist or damp places, collects nectar from pollens to form honey and wax. Belonging to a family called as Apidae and the class Apis. The Honeybee scientifically known by the name Apis mellifera. The centre of origin is basically believed to be the south and southeast Asia (including philippines). There are around 20,000 different species of bees all over the world, but out of them only 8 species are recognized till date with a total of 43 sub-species. The branch of entomology (scientific study of insects) concerning with the scientific study of bees is called as Apicology or Mellitology.
Out of the whole vast population of this family, only the female ones sting, while the males does not cause any harm. And when it stings, our body responds immediately with inflammation, redness, swelling, itching, pain, sudden weakness, accompanied by vomit, diarrhea, abdominal pain and it may sometimes lead to severe life threatening allergic reactions which could be fatal too and the condition is called as Anaphylaxis.

What does really the Bee-venom consists of ?

The Bee-venom is called as Apitoxin, slightly acidic contains formic acid, found in most of the insect bites. Apart from this its’ contents are the biologically active compounds like amino acids and enzymes and three types of proteins which are important allergens that are phospholipase A2, hyaluronidase, and acid phosphatase. Out of these the protein phospholipase A2 triggers the immune response in human body like the inflammation, swelling, pain etc.

Now what is Apitherapy?

Yes, the Bee-venom or Apitoxin promotes healing up many health issues and curement of many diseases. This type of therapy where the live bee stings or injections are given on specific body parts is termed as Apitherapy. The active amino acids and enzymes found in apitoxin helps in healing and improving the immune system. Many diseases like:

Rheumatoid arthritis (chronic inflammatory disorder, in which joints are affected)

Parkinson’s disease (progressive nervous system disorder, affects movement)

Alzheimer’s disease (progressive disorder causes brain cells to degenerate and die)

Lou Gehrig’s disease or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (affects brain cells and spine, causes loss of muscle control)

Eczema (skin disease, causes red rashes on skin with itching)

Psoriasis (skin disease, speeds up life-cycle of skin cells)

The Apitherapy is performed since 5000 years as treatment for other mild problems as well such as headache, joint pain, skin rashes. In other developed countries it is widely used in the field of medicare.
While looking at its extent the therapy should not be done without the consultation of a physician or without any experience of the field.