Bee sting vaccine

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This treatment has been around for 40 years, but it’s not widely known. Regular injections of diluted venom can actually cure bee sting allergies. A Burlington doctor is trying to change that because insect sting allergies can make summer a scary time for sufferers.

Kim Ireland had immunotherapy for her insect sting allergy when she was a child, and made an appointment for her daughter Nena 2 years ago after a bad reaction to a wasp sting. “Her whole face was swelling up and her lips and her eyes were almost…not quite shut but getting big and her whole body was covered in hives.” Now, neither of the Ireland’s reacts to stings.

The allergy shots include increasingly large doses of different kinds of insect venom, depending on the allergy. “The therapy starts with 8 weeks of shots, one shot per week. Then you go into a maintenance period, 1 shot every month for 3-5 years depending on how you respond to the treatment.” Says Dr. Doug Mack.

98% of people who get insect sting shots are fully cured. Patients getting grass or tree injections only see about 25-50% improvement in their symptoms.

Mack says 3% of adults and 1% of kids have anaphalactic reactions to stings. The injections don’t trigger the reaction because they slowly build up a patient’s tolerance by adding more venom each time.