How to avoid or react to them?

Afraid of getting bitten because there’s buzz around you? It’s best to react well to avoid bites, or know what to do if you have unfortunately been bitten.

Are you eating outdoors and they are attracted by the smell of your food? The bites of certain insects are anything but harmless. So it is better to react well when there is a little too much buzz around you…

Wasp, hornet or bee stings: a real danger

Sometimes, you don’t need a multitude of bee, hornet or wasp stings to lose your life. Especially in the summer, it is not uncommon for tragedies to occur. A single sting is enough to take your life, and very quickly. A sting in the tongue for examplecauses immediate swelling, quickly leading to suffocation and then loss of consciousness which leads to cardiac arrest. In this case, dial 15 or 112 immediately..

Although the bites of these insects are fortunately not always fatal, their presence is inherently frightening. Faced with sometimes irrational fears and actions that only increase the risk of being bitten, how can we react properly?

Open the windows and stay calm

Sure, it’s easy to say when fear comes to the table, but the best thing to do if one of these insects starts buzzing around and circling around you is not to react. Try to stay calm, and above all, avoid sudden and rapid movements which will cause the insect to switch from searching for food to a defensive reflex against what it perceives as aggression or potential danger.

If you are in a car or on a veranda, Another good idea is to open the windows, to allow it to get out as quickly as possible. In the car, park as soon as possible until the insect is no longer in the passenger compartment. At the table, calmly move away until it resumes its flight outside.

Another tip if one of these insects is hovering around you while you are eating: stop putting food in your mouth until it disappears. This will prevent stings on your tongue or inside your mouth.

Stay calm so that the meal does not turn into a nightmare © Mason Dahl

The right reflexes in the event of a wasp, bee or hornet sting

And if you get stung, how should you react? First, what stung you? While hornets and wasps do not leave their sting in the skin, the bee, on the other hand, only stings once and then dies. If this is the case, Start by removing the stinger as quickly as possible, by gently scraping the stung area using a blunt object (bank card, butter knife, etc.)

Do not use fingers or tweezers, as this may crush the venom gland and cause more venom to spread under the skin.. Then, clean the site of the bite with soap and water, quite simply, before applying an antiseptic solution. Cold, for example ice, can also help to numb the bitten area a little.

SOS insect bites: 10 natural tips to relieve you

If after 24 hours the bitten area remains red, swollen and painful, consult a doctor. Beware of allergies, too, which cause ten to twenty deaths per year in France.. In case of immediate swelling, do not delay in consulting a pharmacist or doctor. A person allergic to the venom of these flying insects may also have an emergency kit with a self-injectable adrenaline pen, in case of a serious reaction and anaphylactic shock. You will then have to help him use it while waiting for help, which you will have called.

In any case, first and foremost, trust the advice given by the rescuers while waiting for them to arrive on site.

Article updated