A Case of Cardiac Arrest Soon after Receiving a Sting from a Wasp

Abstract

While felling trees along a national roadside in a remote area, a 38-year-old man suddenly cried out that he had been stung by a wasp on his left hand. His colleague came over to him, and he fell unconscious, so his colleague called an ambulance. When emergency technicians found him, he was in cardiopulmonary arrest. His initial rhythm was asystole. He receive advanced cardiac life support but was unable to obtain return of spontaneous circulation, possibly due to his anaphylactic shock and complication with Kounis syndrome resulting in a low cardiac output, as he showed temporal complete bundle branch block with tachycardia PEA, repeated ventricular fibrillation, and elevated cardiac enzymes. The presence of a sting mark may also have been a sign of his severe state and complication of Kounis syndrome. The establishment of a new framework, such as permitting non-medical staff to inject adrenaline into patients with anaphylaxis, might be required.

A Case of Usefulness of Auto-Injectable Adrenaline as a Prophylactic Countermeasure Against Bee Sting for Forestry Workers

“…In disaster situations in such regions, there can be difficulty communicating and obtaining emergency transportation, which might result in a fatal outcome. Fatal accidents in the field of forestry are often associated with fallen trees or rolling timber (Brodie & Ibrahim, 2010; Lilley et al, 2020; Springer et al, 2018; Struttmann & Scheerer, 2001), but anaphylaxis induced by bee stings can also result in fatal outcomes in this line of work (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries; Nishio et al, 2020).…”