A fatal case of intravascular coagulation after bee sting acupuncture.

Author: Jung JW, Jeon EJ, Kim JW, Choi JC, Shin JW, Kim JY, Park IW, Choi BW.
Affiliation: Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Conference/Journal: Allergy Asthma Immunol Res.
Date published: 2012 Mar
Other: Volume ID: 4 , Issue ID: 2 , Pages: 107-9 , Word Count: 89


Bee stings can cause severe adverse reactions, leading to anaphylaxis, cardiovascular collapse, and death. In some cases, bee venom also induces disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). However, to our knowledge, there has been no fatal case of intravascular coagulation accompanied by anaphylaxis caused by bee sting acupuncture. Here, we report a fatal case of a 65-year-old woman with DIC, following anaphylactic shock after bee sting acupuncture. This case emphasizes that practitioners should consider anaphylaxis followed by coagulation abnormalities when a patient's vital signs are unstable after bee sting acupuncture.
PMID: 22379607