Milford chronicle., 1962-07-06
CHRONICLE MILFORD DELAWARE, FRIDAY JULY 1862

that shock brought about by fear
probably is responsible for more
deaths than the actual poison.
Not that snake bites are all one
way - sometimes it doesn't do the
reptile any good either There was
| the cobra, for instance, that bit its
handler. The handler recovered
but not the snake. 1t dislocated its
jaw in that encounter and died of
| infection a few days later.
Poisonous spiders have an even
tougher time killing people. While
their venom is far stronger than
a snakes, they have less of it to
inject Also, the dwindling number
of outdoor privies has eliminated
one of the spiders favorite
habitants.
Until a few years ago, t h e
United States was only supposed
to have one poisonous spider-the
black widow. But recently, brown
spiders-dark cinnamon in color
with vaguely purplish body
have been found in Texas, OKLA
homa, Kansas and Missouri. Their
bite is about as poisonous as a
black widows. The brown spider
is believed ito have migrated to
this country from tropical Ameri-
ca and become acclimated
Perhaps mans best FIR
against spiders is drab old mare,
| who was a failure as a pillow horse.
She's now engaged by a drug man.
ufacturer to run the only factory
for the production of black widow
anti-toxin Injected with venom,
the old mare produces anti-toXins
in her blood serum which is then
drawn off and used in treating
spider victims.
When it comes to lethal output,
however, big snakes and ugly
spiders both take a back seat to a
group of common bugs who go by
the name of Hymenoptera These
are honeybees, wasps, hornets, yel-
low Jackets, ants, 'etc
The first recorded insect death
was written in hieroglyphics on
the tomb of an Egyptian king. 1t
tells how the pharaoh sailed to
Britain, was stung by a ''hornet"
as he stepped ashore and died al
most Immediately That was 400
years ago.
Drop for drop, the venom in
jected by honeybeeis stinger is
just as poisonous as a rattle snake,
but there are a lot fewer drops.
While it delivers only a minute
amount, the bees method S
unique. The stinger complete with
poison sack and muscles rips out,
killing the bee. But the muscles
which remain with the sack will
go on squeezing poison through
the stinger for as long as 20 min
utes.
The normal reaction to this
poison is a burning itch. Bee keep
ers have survived 200 stings at one
time. But for some people a few
stings can be fatal
It's not the poison that does the
killing in these cases, says DR.. w.
w. Bauer, director emeritus of
health education for the ANA
Rather, the proteins contained in
the venom sets up an allergic re-
action.
Just one sting can ens til e
some people and a subsequent
sting, even months latter, m "a Y
trigger asthma, shock or death.
Some physicians say it is quite
likely THAT more people die of this
type of reaction than is now real
lied. The sting is usually SO small
that it is sometimes overlooked,
and death is recorded as due ito
heat prostration or heart failure.
Besides bees, the bite of fire
ants (another wanderer fr m
South America), flies, C h i g er S
and the sting of the poison-tippedi
spines of the Southern woody
worm can produce allergic re-
actions.
Usually sensitive people h ave
some warning of their condition
and special survival kits" are pre-
pared for them by some phy-
the allergy cases can be desensi-
tized by weak injections prepared
from ground-up insects or t h e i r
venom.
Probably the most expensive bite
is delivered by mans alleged
friend, the dog. Besides the ex-
pense of housing and feeding a
surging pooch population = now
estimated at 25,000,000 = Ameri-
cans she'll out about $5,000,000 an
nually for dog bite treatment, the
u. S. Public Health Service re-
ports. According ito government
figures 100000 persons are bitten
annually.
Unless we e0terminate the ami
NAL kingdom, which would prob
ably bring about worldwide star
vation, it is impossible to avoid
their bites and stings. About all
we can do is maintain our de-
fenses.
Typhus, plague and other dread
ed diseases, for instance, are