Hymenoptera venom allergy is a potentially life-threatening allergic reaction following a honeybee, vespid, or ant sting. Systemic-allergic sting reactions have been reported in up to 7.5% of adults and up to 3.4% of children. They can be mild and restricted to the skin or moderate to severe with a risk of life-threatening anaphylaxis. Patients should carry an emergency kit containing an adrena...

BACKGROUND Systemic reactions (SR) to venom immunotherapy (VIT) are rare but may occur, with a rate significantly higher for honeybee than for vespid VIT. In patients with repeated SRs to VIT it is difficult to reach the maintenance dose of venom and pre-treatment with omalizumab is indicated, as shown by some studies reporting its preventative capacity, when antihistamines and corticosteroids ...

Insect venom allergy (IVA) may result in the most severe systemic reactions seen in allergology. The only potentially curative treatment option is venom immunotherapy (VIT) over 3 to 5 years. This treatment is effective in more than 90% of subjects but no reliable predictors of VIT effectiveness exist. Sting challenge with a living insect can be performed to assess the effectiveness of VIT: the...

Results We enrolled 45 children with a mean ((± standart deviation) age of 10.0 ± 3.4 years. VIT with wasp venom was initiated in 39 patients (87%) and with honeybee venom in 6 patients (13%). Seventeen patients (37.8%) had encountered lokal or systemic side effects during VIT. Side effects were present in 41 out of 1448 injections (2.8%). There was no significant difference at sBT levels of ch...

The production of immunoglobulins E (IgE), i.e. the antibodies responsible for allergic reactions, is generally considered as noxious and as the result of a dysfunction in the immune system. A study led by Thomas Marichal, a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Professor Steve Galli at Stanford University, showed that these antibodies can have a protective effect against the toxicity of...

An inhibitor of apamin binding has been purified to homogeneity in three chromatographic steps from the venom of the scorpion, Leiurus quinquestriatus hebraeus. The inhibitor, which we have named leiurotoxin I, represents less than 0.02% of the venom protein. It is a 3.4-kDa peptide with little structural homology to apamin although it has some homology to other scorpion toxins such as charybdo...