Environmental health officials and accident and emergency units throughout the UK are reporting a surge in problems relating to wasps this summer. Hospital and council chiefs say calls about nests and stings have soared. In Kent Firefighters tackling a fire in a stable were attacked by a swarm of wasps after they disturbed the insects' nest in a water hydrant. Four firefighters who were stung received injections but were able to return to duty.One of the firefighters was stung up his nose and on his face and had to be taken to hospital. Here in Maesgierchen we are hearing more and more incidents of wasps swarming, nests being found in trees, in the ground and genrally many more problems than we have had other years, certainly an increase in wasp activity. This may all be taken in its stride but facts now show that more people are developing allergic reactions to wasp & bee stings. The first sting does not necessarily show any sign of a problem but please read the many links on these pages that will help you to know what to do in such circumstances. This could be a life threatening situation as it is on record that around 2-6 people a year die as a direct result of wasp or bee stings in the UK every year. I will stand corrected if newer figers are found. Even 1 is too many.I have just seen the article below and although it's bees and not wasps I thought it was of interest because can we really imagine what 120,000 angry bees are like plus a honeycomb that was threatening the structure of the building with its weight. Wow!- I always knew USA had bigger burgers and hats but bee hives, well that's one I shan't envy.Its great to have this nice weather but please remember to try keep little one's covered up if you think your going into an area where there are wasps seen. Cover up bins and don't leave discarded food lying around or your asking for trouble. Wrap up banana skins and fruit waste. Watch when your children are eating ice creams, sweets, and canned drinks. There have been many incidents of wasps crawling into cans unseen only to enter the mouth when drunk with nasty consequences. Dog food bowls also will attract the wasps so once the animals have eaten and anything is left get rid of it and keep a lid on jams etc. Good Luck!

Yellow peril as plague of wasps invade.

A swarm of wasps has attacked a Gloucestershire pensioner.
It is believed the insects could have been attracted by his hearing aid.

Ron Packer, 82, was pruning in his garden in Stroud when he disturbed a wasps' nest and was stung on his hands.

He moved away but a swarm came at him and clustered around his hearing aid, stinging him eight times.

He said: "They stung me at the front and back of my hearing aid area and really homed in on it.

"I was badly stung and was left with a boxer's cauliflower ear. I couldn't wear the hearing aid for a few days or sleep on that side."

Mr Packer said it was lucky he was "pretty agile" and could get away from the insects.

Workers forage and feed larvae, and cool the nest with water and fanning. Workers will aggressively defend the nest by stinging anything causing a disturbance. Unlike bees, wasps are able to sting repeatedly. The venom of the wasp contains a pheromone which acts as an alarm causing other wasps to become more aggressive when a wasp has stung something or has been killed. So it is a bad idea to swat a wasp near its nest site or to attempt to remove the nest yourself. Reproduction
Common wasps do not have a mating flight like ants do. Mating takes place between young queens and drones in the vicinity of the nest. At the end of autumn the nest dies and the only wasps left alive are the young mated queens. They fly away and find a safe place to hibernate for the winter. It is not uncommon to discover a hibernating queen in the folds of curtains in houses.

Within each of the hibernating queen wasps is a tightly packed ball of dormant sperm stored from mating the previous summer. She is able to release newly activated sperm each time she lays an egg without the need for repeated matings. Therefore, each dormant queen literally has the potential to form a new colony.

In late spring the queen will emerge from hibernation and begin searching for a suitable nest site. When she has found one she starts building a small paper nest into which she begins to lay eggs. The eggs hatch out into sterile females called workers. These workers then take over the job of nest building and larvae feeding and the queen continues to lay eggs.

Towards the end of the summer the queen lays some more eggs which produce male wasps, called drones, and fertile females which will be the queens of next year's nests. These swarm out of the colony and mate. The males die shortly afterwar

Anaphylaxis
What is Anaphylaxis?
Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction - the extreme end of the allergic spectrum. The whole body is affected, usually within minutes of exposure to the allergen but sometimes hours later. Causes include food, insect stings and drugs........

Its a fact that in Austrailia more people die from bee-stings (due to anaphalactic shock) than from shark attack each year.

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Anaphylactic shock

Bee stings can also cause massive allergic reactions
The sudden death of champion hurdler Ross Baillie has highlighted the dangers faced by those suffering from extreme allergies. BBC News Online examines "Anaphylactic Shock", the name for any life-threatening reaction to a seemingly innocent substance.
Anaphylactic shock is an extreme form of allergic reaction to a particular substance, and is often life threatening.

In effect, the body's immune system, which is there to tackle substances or organisms which are a threat, such as bacteria or viruses, decides that something harmless poses a great danger, and launches a massive overreaction

In extreme cases, large quantities of an antibody called immunoglobin E are produced, which cause a variety of effects on the body's cells and tissues.

In particular, it causes the body to release an excess amount of histamine, a dangerous chemical.

The resultant, and usually very swift, effects are muscle contractions and swelling, often closing the throat, making it difficult to breathe.

Sufferers may also experience abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhoea. Immunoglobin E expands blood vessels, causing a drop in blood pressure, which leads to fainting or unconsciousness.

The most visible signs are often swelling and rashes on the skin, or on the lips and tongue if it is a food allergy.

Bites, stings, and jabs

A variety of substances can trigger this massive immune response.

Among them are insect bites or stings, food - commonly nuts, drugs like morphine or the dye injected prior to X-raying. The horse serum used in the makeup of some vaccines can also cause anaphylactic shock.

Many people suffer severe allergic reactions to certain items, such as pet fur or pollen, but these symptoms are rarely life-threatening, and can normally be treated with anti-histamines - a treatment which reduces the amount of dangerous histamine in the body.

However, these treatments take up to an hour to reach the bloodstream, and true anaphylactic shock requires immediate treatment with adrenaline injection.

Hormone makes body 'fight'

Adrenaline is the "fight or flight" hormone, which is released naturally when the body is in a stressful or dangerous situation.

It makes the heart beat faster, widens the air passages in the lungs, and reverses the widening of the blood vessels caused by immunoglobin E.

Most people who realise they have severe allergy reactions carry a ready-filled adrenaline injector with them at all times.

However, such is the speed with which anaphylactic shock takes hold, even immediate treatment with adrenaline is not guaranteed to save the victim's life.