Johannes Relleke of Zimbabwe survived a record 2,443 bee stings in 1962. All of the stings were individually removed and counted after the ordeal. Many similar instances have occurred since then, especially to those attempting to break records with the most number of bees on their body. For example, a Chinese beekeeper, Gao Bingguo, is suspected to have been stung around 2,000 times when he broke a record with 326,000 bees on his body in 2014. However, Johannes Relleke continues to hold the record for the largest number of bee stings removed as of 2015.
It is generally believed that about 10 bee stings per pound of body weight are required for a lethal dose of bee venom. However, those with sensitivity or allergy to bee stings however may experience fatal anaphylactic shock from even a single sting.
More about bee stings:
- It is estimated that 1 or 2 people out of every 1,000 in the US are allergic to bee stings.
- It is important to remove bee stings immediately after being stung because the stinger continues to pump venom into the body.
- First aid for a bee sting involves stepping away from that area, removing the stinger, washing skin with soap and water and applying ice.
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Discussion Comments
It should be noted that studies suggest the bee stings can help relieve arthritis symptoms. For some reason one must be stung for this treatment to work. The bee scientists working on this program tried collecting and reproducing bee venom in a hope of creating an easier method than bee-ing stung. Unfortunately for the bees that sting it is a suicide mission their stingers stay in the victim and are ripped out of the bee's body.
If you are not allergic I highly recommend that you find a bee training course (one with active hives) in your area. I took some bee keeping classes at Cornell University and we worked with 30 hives a few times. Most of us wore beekeeping suits and helmets with netting. The sound and sensation of being in the middle of millions of bees all buzzing around was incredible.
Very interesting. However I think it is possible that if you are allergic you can die right away.
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