ABSTRACT
People encounter insects almost everywhere. Inevitably, thousands of persons are stung or bitten daily. For most people, local pain, swelling, and itching are the only effects, and they gradually abate. For others, life-threatening allergic reactions occur. More people die each year in the United States from bee and wasp stings than from snake bites.1 Why? Probably because more people are exposed to stinging insects than to poisonous snakes; therefore, some individuals become hypersensitive to such stings. Consider fire ants. They are so numerous and widespread in the southern United States that >50% of persons may be stung each year,2 and as much as 17% of the population is sensitized.3 Freeman4 reported that fire ants were responsible for 42% of visits to an allergy clinic in San Antonio, TX.
