What are "insect allergies"?

What are "insect allergies"?

Harold Kaiser (Practicing Allergist and Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of Minnesota Medical School) gives expert video advice on: How are insect allergies treated?; What are "food allergies"?; What are "hives"? and more...

A small percentage of patients with insect allergies are allergic to the hymenopter group of insects. These include insects such as bees, wasps, yellow jackets, and hornets. Another group of patients with insect allergies, an expanding group of patients, are allergic to fire ants. Fire ants can cause a local toxic reaction or a generalized allergic reaction. The patients who develop these allergic reactions if they're stung, can get anything from a large local reaction, to a general reaction, to a life threatening reaction. And there are deaths every year from stinging insects. The diagnosis can be made by history, but allergic patients when stung by an insect usually don't know if it's a wasp or a hornet, unless they happen to be a bee keeper.