How to react to hornets and avoid a bite?

On Sunday, two cyclists were hospitalized in emergency after being bitten fifty times by hornets, in a wood near Roanne, in the Loire.

If this kind of attack remains extremely rare, the significant presence of hornets and wasps this summer is enough to get on the nerves around the barbecue.

So to avoid ending your vacation in the emergency room,

gives you good advice.

How to react to a nest?

What are the right actions in case of a sting?

We tell you everything.

What to do, and above all not to do, in the event of the presence of hornets?

The best way to have a good time is to not get bitten.

And therefore, to avoid at all costs areas where insects are concentrated.

“If when arriving at your vacation rental or in your second home, you notice a strong activity of hornets, you can search for the nest” with caution, recommends Christophe Prudhomme, spokesperson for the Association of Emergency Physicians.

The nest can be under the roof, or between a shutter and a window, which should not be opened.

Once the nest has been located, "you must not approach it and call on a specialized company" to destroy it, the firefighters not moving.

But you can also find hornets far from their nest, usually attracted by food.

"They will approach when you eat fruit or sweets outside", continues the doctor, but "there are different repellent products that are more or less effective in keeping them away".

If the hornet persists in staying around, "do not chase it away suddenly, rather move away quietly from the area".

He also recommends wearing “long, covering clothing” to protect the skin.

What are the risks in the event of a sting?

Despite the impressive size of the insect, an isolated sting is not necessarily more dangerous than that of a wasp.

But "the particularity of the hornet is the length of the stinger, which causes a very painful sting", because it penetrates deeper into the epidermis, explains Christophe Prudhomme.

In most cases, the symptoms will be limited to “redness, swelling and pain”.

However, there are two cases that can be problematic.

“People who have a history” of allergy to venom “must have a dose of adrenaline on them” and what to inject it, warns the emergency doctor.

These people must also "inform and train those around them to react if they cannot do it themselves", because everything can be played in a handful of seconds.

The other danger is the sting “in the throat or in the mouth”: in this case, “you must quickly call 15 or 18” because edema “can cause suffocation”.

How to react if someone is stung?

Apart from the two cases cited, the detour via the emergency room is far from being an obligatory passage.

"You have to be reassuring", especially with children, "even if the swelling can be impressive", tempers Christophe Prudhomme.

The main thing is not to aggravate the situation, first by moving away from the area where other hornets can fly.

Then, you have to "remove the stinger gently with tweezers", taking care not to touch the venom sac "so as not to empty it", and "disinfect with an antiseptic".

Then, to relieve the pain, "you can ask for a soothing cream without a prescription in the pharmacy".

But only the body will be able to eliminate the venom.

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