Bee Sting Reactions

[bwallace23350]

Are sting reactions genetic? The only reason I ask is that my mom and I stings reactions are near mirror images of each other. Just got me thinking is there something genetic to it. I wish I had my dad's non reaction to anything. Bee sting, no reaction, poison ivy no reaction, okra no reaction. In fact I can't think of a single allergy he has.

[iddee]

Not genetic. My father had no allergies, nothing more than a dime size bump from a bee, never was bitten by a mosquito. I am the same, but get mosquito bites, maybe one per five people around me get.

My son had an anaphylactic reaction from a honeybee, and swells more from a mosquito than I do from a bumblebee.

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Mr. Wallace, I have reviewed some of your previous post.  You are a well informed individual with accurate information in your postings.  You have ask a simple question that has a very complex answer.  In short: Yes.

Question:  immune reactions to antigens are they genetic?  (ok I worded it differently) First, an antigen is a molecule that an immune cell responds to: pollen, bee venom, dust...  2.  The short answer is yes there are genetic factors passed on by the parents to the child.  Penicillin is a good example but does not mean for certain.  However, when immune cells acquire their ability to recognize an antigen, there is a process that is completely random whereas an immune cells responds to a specific antigen.  The odds are one in a billion that an immune cell will respond to some common antigen such as a specific pollen or bee venom. This explains why a child can have reactive sinuses whereas siblings and both parents do not react.

So the ability to react to pollen, bee venom or whatever can be either inherited or can be a random event on a molecular level at creation of the original immune cell.

Mr. Wallace, I have tried to explain a with a simple answer.  The immune system is complex so please text if I have created any confusions.

Now understand we have not discussed anaphylactic shock and this is beyond the scope of this text.

For your information:  I am a retired genetic engineer MBIO, I worked exclusively on bacteria causing human disease. 

[BeeMaster2]

Wallace,
Your immune system is not static. It develops base on your environment. When I started beekeeping, I swelled up as much as anyone. In the past 2 days, I took somewhere between 14 to 20 stings while removing honey, moving the hives and putting stickies back on. Most were on my hands and wrist, one next to my left eye and one on my head.
I have had 0 swelling and no marks showing.
One thing that helped me get to this point was that when I started beekeeping, my pharmacist recommended using Benadryl cream and Hydro Cortisone cream together.  Once I did that, my reaction quickly decreased.
Jim

[Acebird]

Jim, what are stickies?

[iddee]

I'm not Jim, but stickies are extracted combs that are still sticky from the honey left in them.

[BeeMaster2]

Thanks Wally.

[Acebird]

and the bird gains a little bit more knowledge.

[JackM]

Wallace,
Your immune system is not static. It develops base on your environment. When I started beekeeping, I swelled up as much as anyone. In the past 2 days, I took somewhere between 14 to 20 stings while removing honey, moving the hives and putting stickies back on. Most were on my hands and wrist, one next to my left eye and one on my head.
I have had 0 swelling and no marks showing.
One thing that helped me get to this point was that when I started beekeeping, my pharmacist recommended using Benadryl cream and Hydro Cortisone cream together.  Once I did that, my reaction quickly decreased.
Jim

What you have described is the body developing a tolerance to the venom, but in those who have an allergy, each exposure can be the same or much worse leading up to anaphalyxis.  And these antibodies (that are the tolerance) can be delved from the mother's breast milk. 

Regardless an extremely complicated subject with multiple foci.

[PhilK]

No, allergies are not genetic as Van has described. Immunology is a very complicated subject!

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Hello Phil.  Go back an read my post, Sir.  I never mentioned the word "allergy."   I did mention complex.

[PhilK]

Van, you said yes to the question of "are sting reactions genetic"? (Sorry you said reaction not allergy). Regardless, they are not.

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Mr. PhilK:

Google "parents allergic pencillin" first hit, how stuff works;  short answer, both as I stated "yes inherited" and/ or "random chance."  Good day mate.

[bwallace23350]

Good to know and thanks for the answers. Curious how genetics and random chance work together.

[PhilK]

They don't, bwallace. From the research I've done you can inherit the likelihood of getting reactions (ie parents with allergies are more likely to have children with allergies), but not what the reaction is to (ie peanut allergic parents may have a child allergic to something else). Hypersensitivities (which is what a sting reaction is) are potentially the same, but all reactions are multifactorial so there isn't one thing causing the problem.

[JackM]

Of note, you cannot have a reaction unless you have the antibodies.  Those come after an exposure.  Unless exposed in the womb you have to have the exposure to get the reaction.  There may be a genetic factor, but one is not "born" with allergies.

[Fishing-Nut]

Probably a little off topic, but if I get stung by a wasp I have a way worse reaction than I do from a honey bee. I get a pretty bit bump, a lot of redness and itching for days when I get stung by a wasp. We have these dang guinea wasps around here and they are nasty little suckers. They had built a nest under my porch rail that I didn't know about. I was actually on the phone with a lady about some honey bees and when I grabbed the rail one popped me on the knuckle. I accidentally said a few choice words that she heard and thankfully thought was hilarious.

[JackM]

Probably a little off topic, but if I get stung by a wasp I have a way worse reaction than I do from a honey bee. I get a pretty bit bump, a lot of redness and itching for days when I get stung by a wasp. We have these dang guinea wasps around here and they are nasty little suckers. They had built a nest under my porch rail that I didn't know about. I was actually on the phone with a lady about some honey bees and when I grabbed the rail one popped me on the knuckle. I accidentally said a few choice words that she heard and thankfully thought was hilarious.

Actually I don't see that as off topic, the point made is that wasps are not bees and reactions will be different as the antibodies are different for each toxin

[bwallace23350]

Yeah I get a much worse reaction to wasps. I get some localized swelling and redness and itchiness for a few hours. In 15 minutes I can't find my bee stings. That 15 minutes is painful with a small bump and it really does itch but it is less than a reaction I get to okra leaves

[cao]

In 15 minutes I can't find my bee stings. That 15 minutes is painful with a small bump and it really does itch but it is less than a reaction I get to okra leaves

If you want to get rid of that 15 minutes of pain try crushing some plaintain leaves and rubbing the juice on the sting.  It stops the pain almost immediately.