Allergic beekeeper starts treatment

A beekeeper with an allergy to bee stings is undergoing hospital treatment so he can continue his hobby.

Michael Lynch, from Bonsall, in Derbyshire, faced having to give up his pastime after a sting on the chin caused life-threatening anaphylactic shock.

He found he had gradually developed an allergy over more than 30 years of keeping the insects.

But he has started a three-year programme using bee venom to "desensitise" his immune system against the allergic reactions.

He said: "A few years ago there were a couple of occasions when I received a few stings around the head, I felt faint, hot and itchy. The symptoms slowly eased and, apart from improving my bee suit, carried on as before.

"But on one occasion last year I was stung on the chin and within seconds I had pins and needles in my hands, felt hot, began to lose vision and eventually I collapsed.

"I managed to get myself up and to my doctor's, who recommended I see the Clinical Immunology and Allergy team at the Northern General Hospital."

The 64-year-old said he had seen "a real difference" in the first few weeks of the treatment at the hospital, in Sheffield.

"The injections have been built up to the equivalent level of two bee stings and I experienced no reaction from the last one given to me," he said.

Fran Ashworth, senior clinical immunology and allergy nurse specialist at the Northern General, said: "Desensitising the body against allergies has become a successful way to treat patients with life-threatening wasp and bee venom allergies. It can also be used to treat grass pollen allergy."

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