“Generalized overheating of the body”: Stung by a wasp, the mayor of a town comes close to death and ends up in the emergency room

The mayor of Valdoule was stung by a wasp and had a violent allergic reaction. Illustration Envato @perutskyy – Petro Perytskyi

the essential The mayor of the town of Valdoule in Hautes-Alpes shared his misadventure on Facebook to warn of the dangers that wasp stings can represent.

"A wasp sting, and this is the result!"Gérard Tenoux had a narrow escape. The mayor of the town of Valdoule, in Hautes-Alpes, decided to speak out in a Facebook publication, to recount his misadventure after being stung by a wasp.

This Friday, he explains that at 1:30 p.m., he was stung. Living only a kilometer away, he quickly takes pills "to lessen the anaphylactic shock." Except that the situation gets out of hand. "First very violent symptom, general overheating of the body, the heart accelerating…"

He finds himself unable to give his injection, he feels so bad. He warns his wife, asks her to call for help, before losing consciousness.

1 h 30 intensive care

He will then spend "30 minutes inanimate on the ground, my body waging a fierce struggle for life quite simply against this violent allergic reaction". Finally, the rapid intervention of emergency services and  1 h nbsp;intensive care on site", he was transferred to the Gap emergency room &quot ;where I was taken care of in a remarkable way, he says.

Now back home, the chosen one is resting. "Allergic reactions of this type are rare but they do exist. May this testimony modestly raise awareness of the dangerousness of a wasp or bee sting", hopes Gérard Tenoux.

In France, between 2000 and 2015, 137 deaths linked to wasp, bee or hornet stings were recorded according to figures from Inserm, i.e. a little more than fifteen deaths per year on average.