• Question: Can you die from bee stings?

    Asked by Charlie to Arthur, Clare, Daniel, David, Tora on 19 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Arthur Dyer

      Arthur Dyer answered on 19 Nov 2014:

      You’d be pretty unlucky to die from bee stings.

      Most people wouldn’t get more than a mild bit of swelling and pain but some people are allergic and that’s where the problems come in as they can go into shock causing them to stop breathing (which isn’t very good news!)

      The only other way you can die from bee stings that I can think of is if you disturb a whole nest and this will mean you get a lot of stings and a lot of vemon all at once which could cause problems with breathing but that’s really very very rare for that many bees to sting you at once

    • Photo: Clare Harding

      Clare Harding answered on 19 Nov 2014:

      Apparently, about 40 people in the USA die from bee attacks every year. And about 5 people a year in England.

      Most of the deaths in the USA are because of African killer bees, the problem is these bees are much more aggressive than European bees and a whole swarm (between 30,000 and 100,000) bees can attack you at the same time. We don’t have these bees here (yet!) so in England most people die from being allergic to bee stings.

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