Letter: Where the bee stings

Sir: As an ex-beekeeper who suffered from anaphylactic shock the last time I was stung, may I explain how to remove a bee sting? Paul Dinsdale (19 July) says that Ian Ellison's wife removed her husband's bee sting 'with a pair of tweezers'. This is entirely the wrong way.

At the end of the bee sting, above the surface of the victim's skin, is the sac of venom. To apply tweezers to this drives the venom into the bloodstream.

Bee stings must be removed by scraping away the sting with a blade making contact with the sting below the venom sac, which is hopefully removed before too much of the contents can be released into the blood.

Yours faithfully,

JOHN PENNY

Upton St Leonards, Gloucester