Hornet venom is one of the most powerful among insect poisons in general. However, the strength of the poison and the consequences of its ingestion into the human body largely depend on the type of hornet.
With full confidence, we can say that every hornet is poisonous, because. has a sting associated with a gland that produces a whole range of toxins. Moreover, each specific species has its own, specific poison.
For example, the bite of an ordinary European hornet, which is most often encountered by summer residents, beekeepers and agricultural workers, differs little in terms of pain and consequences from the bite of a honey bee or an ordinary paper wasp.
At the same time, the bite of the giant Asian hornet is extremely painful and can lead to death in especially severe cases.
It is interesting
According to a specially designed sting force rating system developed by the American researcher Justin Schmidt, the bites of large hornets received a mark of 4, along with the bites of large road wasps. Only the South American bullet ant bites them more painfully - according to the Schmidt scale, its bite is 4+.
Despite the fact that the hornet is poisonous, it rarely uses its poison when hunting: this insect does not like to waste precious means of protection unnecessarily, and uses powerful jaws to kill various fodder arthropods. The exception is large and hard prey - in this case, the wasp can use poison.
In general, the hornet prefers to use its toxin only for self-defense or nest defense. However, if it happened that someone got into the hornet's personal space, you should be prepared for any outcome.
The danger of hornet poison: the reaction of the human body to it
Now let's look at the action that poisonous hornets have on the human body. Hornet venom is dangerous primarily because it contains many lytic components, leading to cell breakdown at the site of the bite. This explains the instant appearance of edema and inflammation. Sometimes the ingress of poison into the tissue can cause the formation of an abscess.
If a person has undergone numerous bites, not only skin cells are damaged, but also the walls of blood vessels, which leads to local hemorrhages. In special cases, this causes damage to internal organs, and if you do not consult a doctor in time, you can wait for the development of necrotic tissue damage.
Review
“I was just working in my garden that day and sat down on a tuft of grass under a tree. It turned out that a sparrow bee (the local name for the giant Asian hornet) was sitting there. She stung me on the buttock, but it seemed to me as if I sat on a red-hot nail. I don't remember how I felt afterwards. I ran home, but it was about half a kilometer before him, and every step was given in the lower back with severe pain. I just managed to cross the river and fell already on the road.That's probably where they picked me up. I came to myself only in the hospital. I had extensive swelling, half of my back was swollen, I was constantly injected with painkillers and antipyretics. The pain was still so strong that I could not lie down in any way except on my stomach.
So Young, Thai Binh
In addition to the consequences already listed, the poison of large hornets causes headaches, heart palpitations, and fever. These symptoms are often exacerbated by an allergic reaction, leading in severe cases to anaphylactic shock. Another type of body reaction to hornet venom can be shortness of breath, resulting from an increase in lymphatic vessels.
It is worth noting that even without the complications described above, hornet venom has a strong effect on the nerve endings, causing acute pain in a person stung by a poisonous insect. In some cases, it in itself can lead to a state of shock.
Despite the suffering inflicted on a person, a hornet injects quite a bit of poison into the wound in one bite - no more than 0.5 mg, after which it takes out a sting. In this, hornets and other wasps differ from bees, which leave their weapons in the body of the enemy, along with part of the intestine, thereby dooming themselves to death.
Poisonous hornets are able to sting victims and enemies many times, however, when stinging, a bee leaves more poison in the wound. It is not surprising that an ordinary European hornet and almost one and a half times smaller bee sting about the same.
Review
“All stories about poisonous hornets are fairy tales. Well, they are big, well, they sting. But no more painful than bees. And in general, they are very peaceful insects.For one year I worked as a security guard in the apiary, so the bees really ate every day then. And the next year, right on the barn of the house, the hornets built a nest, so only one bit me all the time. I won’t say that a bite is somehow different from bee stings. ”
Ivan, Trofimovo
A bit of chemistry: what does poison consist of?
The action that hornet venom has is explained by its composition. The hornet is poisonous due to a combination of several neurotoxins, substances that excite nerve endings, and also dissolve cell membranes. That is why the result of a bite leads to a complex lesion of different organ systems.
The main active components of hornet venom are:
- Phospholipase A2 is an indispensable component of the venoms of snakes, bees and wasps. It leads to the dissolution of the components of cell membranes, the release of their contents into the intercellular space and the development of an inflammatory reaction.
- Orientotoxin is a poison with a similar effect, also affecting cell membranes.
- Acetylcholine, which directly activates the nerve endings and causes severe pain.
- Histamine, which increases the pain effect and causes the body's immune response in the form of an allergic reaction.
- Mastoparan is a specific peptide contained in large quantities in hornet venom, which causes the release of histamine from mast cells in a chain reaction. No wonder hornet stings are so allergenic and so easily lead to anaphylactic shock.
A few more components that make up the hornet venom enhance the local tissue reaction and lead to rapidly spreading general toxic effects. It is worth noting that in some cases, hornet venom can lead to kidney failure.
The most poisonous hornets
The most poisonous hornets in the world are representatives of the Asian giant hornet and its various subspecies. These wasps have a length of up to 5.5 cm, a wingspan of up to 6 cm, and several dozen people die every year from their bites. After being stung by giant Asian hornets, edema with inflammation quickly develops, multiple spreading symptoms appear, and anaphylactic shock often occurs.
Often, when giant poisonous hornets protect the nest by attacking a person in a group, their prey may experience hemorrhages in the internal organs and numerous necrotic tissue lesions.
Review
“Two months ago, a patient was discharged from our hospital after being bitten by more than twenty hornets. His kidney function was impaired, there was serious intoxication, the most bitten arm was enlarged to a monstrous size, and his throat was swollen, and for normal breathing he had to insert a catheter into the airways. On the fingers of his sore hand, necrosis began, and the little finger had to be amputated.
Homi Niyashi, Kochi
One can note a certain dependence of the toxicity of hornets not only on their size, but also on their behavior. So, for example, the hornets that live in our country are small and do not pose a serious danger. In addition, "our" hornets are relatively peaceful insects; even when pursued, they prefer not to attack, but sting only when capturing or protecting the nest.
In contrast to the European, the Japanese hornet, which has about the same size, is aggressive and has a habit of attacking in a group.As a result, encounters with these poisonous hornets seem to be more dangerous than even the bites of individual individuals of giant relatives.
Is hornet venom useful and can I buy it?
Unlike such a valuable bee, hornet venom does not bring any benefits. It does not contain those components for which bee venom is so revered, therefore, no experimentally proven methods of treatment based on it are known.
In addition, getting hornet venom is much more difficult than bee venom. It is not surprising that in the countries of Southeast Asia, where even such exotic products are still used in traditional medicine, the price of hornet venom is fabulously high.
It is almost impossible to find out the price of the poison of this insect through official sources, since this market is closed to “non-friends”. If one of the uninitiated specifically asks the question of acquiring hornet venom, then most likely they will receive a fake, the price of which will be very different from reality.
In general, no matter how poisonous the hornets are, they should be treated as neighbors to be reckoned with. When they do not occupy a living space and do not settle near the apiary, these insects will not cause harm and, if behaved correctly, they will not attack anyone.
If, nevertheless, you find yourself in a situation where you are bitten by an insect, presumably a hornet, you should immediately seek medical help.
Useful video: what are the dangers of wasp and hornet bites
Hornet attacks on humans and how to protect yourself from them
When I saw the hornet, I froze.
Hornets nest in the attic of a village house, in our Tver region. They don’t really interfere with anything, but the problem is that they fly from the attic into the hallway, and into the light they can fly into the house. The nests have already been removed from the attic several times, although they do not use the old ones, they make new ones nearby, which is extremely unpleasant.
They don’t sting on purpose, but my Ma was stung several times on her feet, since she walks barefoot in the summer, and they can easily crawl on the floor. In general, in such proximity, they still cause trembling and a negative reaction, so we have to get rid of them almost every year, but they fly in the area, and we don’t touch them there. Again - there are no more wasps on the site.