Ten Years of Bee Sting Records Reveal Envenomation Patterns in French Guiana

A ten-year review of medical records from Cayenne Hospital in French Guiana has provided the first detailed epidemiological and clinical description of massive bee envenomations in the territory. The retrospective study, published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, covered patients admitted for bee stings between 2014 and 2023 and analyzed 143 cases in total.

Massive bee stings can cause systemic manifestations and life-threatening complications, yet data on such envenomations in French Guiana had been scarce. The research team, led by Rémy Blaud, retrospectively reviewed the records of all patients presenting to the emergency department over the study period, creating a composite variable of systemic involvement that covered neurological, respiratory, hemodynamic and digestive manifestations. All analyses were descriptive.

The findings showed that 40% of the 143 patients, or 57 individuals, presented at least one systemic manifestation. The median number of stings was 50, with an interquartile range of 20 to 150. Overall mortality was low, with one death recorded among the 143 patients, equivalent to 0.7%.

In an exploratory two-graph receiver operating characteristic (TG-ROC) analysis, the researchers examined the sensitivity and specificity of sting-count cut-offs for four binary indicators of systemic involvement. The cut-offs maximizing the Youden index were approximately 72 stings for digestive and hemodynamic manifestations and 99 stings for neurological and respiratory manifestations. These cut-offs showed only modest sensitivity, ranging from 0.50 to 0.76, and specificity ranging from 0.68 to 0.76.

The authors cautioned that these exploratory analyses suggested systemic manifestations may occur at sting counts below the conventional 200-sting threshold, but stressed that the findings should not be interpreted as a validated clinical cutoff. They noted that confirmation would require prospective multicenter studies. As a retrospective, single-center, descriptive study, the work documents the clinical characteristics and management of these patients in French Guiana while leaving questions about optimal thresholds and outcomes for future research.

Subject of Research: Epidemiology and clinical management of massive bee envenomations in French Guiana

Article Title: Massive envenomations by bees in French Guiana: A ten-year retrospective study (2014–2023)

Article References: Blaud, R., Mutricy, R., Negrello, F., Eeckhout, M., Epelboin, L., Douine, M., Kallel, H., & Fremery, A. (2026). Massive envenomations by bees in French Guiana: A ten-year retrospective study (2014–2023). PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 20(10), e0014824. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0014824

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0014824

Keywords: bee stings, envenomation, French Guiana, Cayenne Hospital, retrospective study, systemic manifestations, sting count, TG-ROC analysis, emergency department, toxicology, Massive, envenomations