A beehive fell off of a tree onto the head of an Arizona woman who was walking to pick up her son on April 29.
The unidentified woman was stung about 30 times.
“Walking up to the house and with my wonderful luck, the second I got out of my car and walk under it, it falls on my head,” she told AZ Family. “Yes, it fell directly on my head. I heard it explode on my head.”
The woman said that a huge gust of wind blew the beehive down as she was approaching the home daycare center. She said the bees stung her head, shoulders, arms, and fingers. She rushed inside and took some Benadryl.
She was rather happy about the outcome, despite the pain.
“I’m happy that I’m not allergic, I’m glad it didn’t happen to somebody who was, so I’m OK with it happening to me,” she told AZ Family.
Firefighters were contacted, and they came and sprayed the hive with foam to neutralize the bees. The home daycare center was next to an elementary school that was scheduled to let out soon after the hive fell.
Multiple bee stings can result in an accumulation of venom in the body and can make a person feel very sick, according to the Mayo Clinic. Reactions can include vomiting, diarrhea, headache, fever, convulsions, dizziness, fainting, and nausea.
More serious, life-threatening reactions can occur in people who experience an allergic reaction to bee stings.
A 51-year-old Arizona man died from multiple bee stings earlier in April.
Epigmenio Gonzalez had gone to his backyard to remove a beehive from a couch, Arizona Republic reported. The bees became agitated, and Gonzalez ran to the front yard to try and get away. Officials found him there, covered in bees.
Officials sprayed him with water, and then took him to Yuma Regional Medical Center. He was pronounced dead.
A female on the property was also taken to the hospital for bee stings. Police and deputies were also stung, but did not seek medical treatment.
Normally, most bee stings can be treated with first aid at home, according to WebMD. If a person has an allergic reaction, the bee stinger should be removed immediately. It can be scraped out using a credit card. Washing the area with soap and water is also recommended. Applying hydrocortisone cream can help with itching, swelling, and redness. Ice applied to the area wrapped in a cloth can also be used to provide pain relief.
Antihistamines can also help treat itching and swelling, according to WebMD. Doctors can prescribe other medication that can be carried around by people with known allergic reactions.
Other medical treatment will depend on the severity of the reaction, the location of the sting, or the amount of times stung.
A couple in Texas was stung around 600 times by killer bees while working in their yard in September.
Vern Roberts received most of the stings, while mowing his lawn outside of Houston. His wife heard his screams and ran outside to help, while in the process sustaining over 60 stings.
“I tried to get away. It was starting to overwhelm me. I tried to ‘stop, drop and roll’, did all kinds of ‘protect me things,’ but it kept overwhelming and basically knocking me down,” Vern Roberts told KHOU. “I would stagger and fall and flop around, all sorts of things.”
When paramedics arrived, they also had to fight off the bees in order to give him treatment. Roberts was hospitalized in intensive care for three days, KHOU reported.
