Epidemiology of Honeybee Sting Cases in the State of Ceará, Northeastern Brazil

Abstract

In the American continent, honeybee envenomation is a public health problem due to the high incidence and severity of the cases. Despite its medical importance, there is a lack of epidemiological studies on this topic in Brazil, especially referring to the Northeastern states. The present study has aimed to describe the epidemiological features of honeybee envenomation cases in the state of the Ceará, Northeastern Brazil, from 2007 to 2013. Data were collected from the Injury Notification Information System database of the Health Department of Ceará. A total of 1,307 cases were analyzed. Cases were shown to be distributed in all the months of the studied years, reaching higher frequencies in August. The majority of cases occurred in urban areas and involved men aged between 20 and 29 years. Victims were mainly stung on the head and torso, and they received medical assistance predominantly within 3 hours after being stung. Local manifestations were more frequent than systemic ones. Most cases were classified as mild and progressed to cure. The high number of honeybee sting cases shows that Ceará may be an important risk area for such injuries. Moreover, the current study provides data for the development of strategies to promote control and prevention of bee stings in this area.

Hymenoptera stings in Brazil: a neglected health threat in Amazonas State

“…This may occur because most cases come from urban areas, where transportation to health care is faster. The most frequent systemic clinical manifestations were vagal (17 [29.31%]) and neurological (18 [31.03%]) signs, which was corroborated by other studies 11,12 . Here we showed for the first time that bee stings, head injuries, and time to medical assistance could be applied as good predictors for systemic manifestations among reported cases of Hymenoptera injury in Amazonas state.…”

“…Time elapsed from sting to medical assistance was less than 3 hours in majority of records (319 [75.41%]) as described in other studies 11,12 . This may occur because most cases come from urban areas, where transportation to health care is faster.…”

“…Results showed that registers comprise mainly children aged 0-10 years (31.57%). Records from young men aged 10-20, and 20-30 years were 15.13% and 16.315, respectively ( Table 1) 11,12 . This finding probably reflects indigenous rituals such as those from Sateré-Mawé ethnicity, in which pre-teens, as a comingof-age ritual, must put their hands inside a glove containing bullet ants belonging to the genera Paraponera and Dinoponera ("Tucandeira's ritual"), known to cause severe pain 13 .…”

Perfil Epidemiológico Dos Acidentes Por Animais Peçonhentos Na Região Norte Entre Os Anos De 2012 E 2015

“…Essa situação pode ser decorrente da falta de tratamento específico para o envenenamento apilífero, rápida inoculação do veneno no organismo, diversidade de espécies nas diferentes regiões e desencadeamento de choques anafiláticos. Porém, é importante destacar que as informações coletadas pelo SINAN não discriminam se o envenenamento foi causado por picadas únicas ou múltiplas, limitando uma melhor avaliação epidemiológica 12 . Desta forma, torna-se necessária uma investigação mais apurada em relação aos acidentes ocorridos para melhor utilização de recursos existentese otimização do tratamento.…”

Multiple bee stings, multiple organs involved: a case report

“…European honey bees (EHB) were introduced in Brazil in 1839. African queen bees brought in 1956 to optimize honey production, accidentally escaped in 1957 causing wild hybridization, reaching the Americas at a rate of 300-500km/year 1,2 .…”