A woman in Spain died after a procedure that uses live bee stingers to replace acupuncture needles.
The treatment was part of an apitherapy program, a type of treatment that aims to relieve medical conditions through substances found in or produced by bees. There is limited evidence available on the effectiveness of apitherapy treatments, the study mentions.
The unnamed woman attended bee acupuncture sessions for two years before she had a negative reaction. The 55-year-old sought the treatment to relieve severe muscle tension and reduce stress, according to the study.
“I’ve been stung by bees. It’s a thousands of years old treatment called apitherapy. People use it to get rid of inflammation and scarring. It’s actually pretty incredible if you research it. But, man, it’s painful,” Paltrow said.
“We hold the bee, put it on a point on the body, hold its head, and pinch it until the sting needle emerges,” said Wang Menglin.
The article claimed the therapy is a part of traditional Chinese medicine.
The Spanish study recommends that places giving apitherapy treatments should be equipped with ways to treat such reactions. The woman that died had to wait 30 minutes for an ambulance to arrive before she was treated.
The study concludes by not recommending live bee acupuncture at all, also mentioning this is the first known instance of someone dying from bee acupuncture in this way.
“Therefore, the risks of undergoing apitherapy may exceed the presumed benefits, leading us to conclude that this practice is both unsafe and unadvisable,” states the study.
