Bee sting itchy after a week

Warm sunshine and blossoming flowers are a natural invitation to go outside this spring. But as you spend more time outdoors, remember that bees, wasps, and hornets are busy foraging for food and nectar.

Bee sting swelling next day

The seasonal increase in these populations boosts your risk for accidental encounters and stings.

The sting effect

Bees, wasps, and hornets inject venom when they sting. The venom contains proteins that poke holes in cells and cause additional damage to them.

You feel that immediately as pain and itching, which are triggered as part of a natural process that walls off the venom to keep it from spreading.

"The venom also activates mast cells that cause additional swelling and redness.

The mast cells dump enzymes into the area to degrade the dangerous venom proteins and protect us from their toxic effects," says Dr. Caroline Sokol, an allergist at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital.

Allergic reactions

In most people, over the next several days after a sting, the venom is broken down, and the body begins repairing the tissue damage.

Swelling and redness last for

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