XPost: sci.agriculture.beekeeping, alt.politics.liberalism, alt.crime   
   XPost: sac.politics   
   From: ross@gerberkawasaki.com   
      
   A 55-year-old Spanish woman has died following repeated   
   exposures to an acupuncture method that uses live, stinging bees   
   instead of traditional needles, according to a recent case   
   report in the Journal of Investigational Allergology and   
   Clinical Immunology.   
      
   The painful and dangerous practice—called apipuncture—is   
   generally peddled by nonmedical practitioners and, in recent   
   years, has generated buzz among celebrities, most notably   
   Gwyneth Paltrow and her chic lifestyle brand Goop. Paltrow and   
   other proponents claim that insect venom can relieve a swarm of   
   ailments, including inflammation, arthritis, generalized pain,   
   scarring, and skin issues.   
      
   But evidence to back those claims is weak and mixed, and   
   numerous medical studies have tallied serious risks and adverse   
   events, including anaphylaxis, stroke, and death. Perhaps most   
   alarming is that people with no history of allergies to bee   
   venom can become sensitive to it over time. In fact, the more   
   exposure, the greater the risk of developing a sensitivity. And   
   life-threatening reactions appear unpredictably.   
      
   That seemed to be the case for the Spanish woman. While it's   
   unclear how she learned about the stinging apipuncture, her   
   doctors noted in their medical report that she had attended   
   sessions every four weeks for two years with no issues prior to   
   her death. She had sought the bee-based treatment—a form of   
   apitherapy—for stress and muscle tightness. But during what   
   would be her final session, she began wheezing and lost   
   consciousness.   
      
   Personnel at the apitherapy clinic were unprepared for the   
   medical emergency and could only provide her with   
   methylprednisolone, a drug that reduces inflammation. It took 30   
   minutes for an ambulance to arrive. By that time, her systolic   
   blood pressure (the top number of blood pressure readings)   
   plummeted to 42 mmHg. (A normal range is often considered to be   
   from 90 to 119 mmHg.) Emergency medical personnel arriving on   
   the scene promptly gave her a double dose of adrenaline, saline   
   infusion, intravenous corticosteroids, and antihistamines.   
      
   Though her blood pressure and heart rate stabilized on the way   
   to the hospital, doctors there determined that she had suffered   
   a massive stroke from severe anaphylaxis (acute allergic   
   reaction) and slipped into a permanent coma. She died several   
   weeks later from multi-organ failure.   
      
   Pain, no gain   
   The doctors say that better training among the apitherapy   
   personnel and a faster ambulance response time may have   
   prevented her death. But, they add, such favorable conditions   
   may not be realistic or possible for these types of clinics.   
      
   “Therefore, the risks of undergoing apitherapy may exceed the   
   presumed benefits, leading us to conclude that this practice is   
   both unsafe and unadvisable,” they conclude.   
      
   That squares with a 2015 literature review by South Korean   
   researchers. They looked at 145 studies on bee-venom therapy and   
   concluded that “adverse events related to bee-venom therapy are   
   frequent.” They also noted the potential for bee-venom   
   sensitivity to fly up unexpectedly, citing a 2008 report of a 21-   
   year-old who died of anaphylaxis from an accidental bee sting   
   one year after receiving repeated apipuncture sessions.   
      
   Last, the researchers noted that studies indicating benefits   
   from the therapy were difficult to interpret “owing to the poor   
   reporting quality.”   
      
   Still, all these criticisms haven’t stopped some celebrities and   
   tabloids from continuing to champion the bee-venom treatments.   
   For instance, Kourtney Kardashian has endorsed bee-venom skin   
   products, and tabloids have hummed over reports that Kate   
   Middleton, Victoria Beckham, and others use bee-venom facials   
   and other products.   
   But Gwyneth Paltrow is likely the most high-profile proponent.   
   In a 2016 piece for The New York Times, Paltrow noted that she’d   
   “been stung by bees.”   
      
   “It’s a thousands-of-years-old treatment called apitherapy.   
   People use it to get rid of inflammation and scarring. It’s   
   actually pretty incredible if you research it. But, man, it’s   
   painful,” she wrote.   
      
   On her lifestyle e-commerce site, Goop, she personally endorses   
   bee-venom products, bee-sting therapy, and apipuncture, claiming   
   “I was recently given ‘bee-venom therapy’ for an old injury and   
   it disappeared.”   
      
   Journal of Investigational Allergology and Clinical Immunology,   
   2018. DOI: 10.18176/jiaci.0202  (About DOIs).   
      
   https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/03/gwyneth-paltrow-claimed-   
   bee-sting-therapy-healed-her-it-just-killed-a-woman/   
      
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