In remote, wooded, and rural areas of central China, people have been attacked by giant, aggressive swarms of hornets. Alarmingly, 28 deaths have been reported and hundreds more have been injured in the last three months alone. Some of the injured reported being chased for hundreds of meters and being stung upwards of 200 times.
These hornets are incredibly dangerous because their very toxic stings can lead to both renal failure and anaphylactic shock in severe cases. Local disease control authorities are urging people to seek medical treatment if stung over 10 times at once. They also urge the necessity of emergency medical treatment if someone has over 30 stings.
Is global warming a contributing factor?
These hornet attacks are a yearly problem in this area of China between the months of May and into late November. This year has seen a shocking increase in the number of deaths; only 36 between 2002 and 2005 and a similar increase in the number of injuries.
Health official Zhou Yuanhong suggests that recent weather changes as well as laborers working deeper into wooded area are to blame for this increase. When workers move into deeper, never before accessed areas, they are more likely to disturb nests as well as attract these hornets with the chemicals found in the foods they eat and cosmetics they wear.
This post claims that experts report that these insects only attack if disturbed. Until temperatures drop and kill off these hornets, people are warned to enter wooded areas with caution.
Local Chinese authorities have assured the public that they plan to help patients pay for the costly treatment received when attacked; a crippling debt for the rural poor of this country.
