A six-year-old girl has died after being attacked by Wasps in Svay Rieng Province on Saturday 4 January 2020. Ream Lina of Sambour in Svay Teab District was attacked at about 11.00 am local time, after apparently disturbing the Insects by leaning her bicycle against a bush. She received about 30 stings, and was rushed to District Referral Hospital for treatment, before being sent on to a provincial hospital where she died. Her parents have raised concerns that doctors at the first hospital did not take their daughter's condition sufficiently seriously, and believe she may have survived if she had been moved to a larger hospital more promptly.
Ream Lina, 6. of Svey Rieng Province in Cambodia, died after being attacked by Wasps. Fresh News.
Deaths due to Wasp stings are not uncommon in Cambodia, due to the presence of the Asian Giant Hornet, Vespa mandarinia, a particularly large Wasp which injects a significant amount of venom with each stung and tends to attack in swarms. Such attacks can often lead to the victim going into anaphylaxic shock, a state in which the amount of toxin in the blood overwhelms the body's ability to cope causing a severe allergic reaction, which causes, among other symptoms, muscle spasms, not just in the muscles which control voluntary movements, but also those that control the heart and respiratory system, with potentially fatal consequences. However it is unclear if Giant Hornets were responsible for this attack, as smaller Wasps are also capable of causing anaphylaxic shock, particularly in small children.
An Asian Giant Hornet, Vespa mandarinia. Filippo Turetta/Wikimedia Commons.
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