Bites and Stings Poisoning

Bites and Stings Poisoning

Bites and stings poisoning or hypersensitivity response (allergic reaction) to insect and reptile venoms.

Though numerous insects sting and spiders and snakes bite, most are not poisonous (harmful beyond local discomfort at the site of the sting or bite). Rapid first resonse efforts can often reduce the severity of the resulting injury from poisonous stings and bites.

Hymenoptera stings

The most common stings come from wasps, hornets, yellow jackets, honey bees, and fire ants, collectively known as the Hymenoptera order.

Sweeteners

Sweeteners

Sweeteners come from various sources. They have been sought throughout history for their pleasing taste and many uses. Just stop and think of what you have eaten today.

This morning you may have sweetened your tea with honey and put maple syrup on your pancakes. At lunch, you may have eaten a snack food made with corn syrup — a form of sugar — and, perhaps, you finished off dinner with a cake made with the most commonly used and best known sweetener of all, granulated sugar.

The science of sweetness, however, goes beyond the source of the foodstuff for the sweetener. At a molecular level, approximately 100 chemicals are sweet. They all are referred to as sugars. Common ones you may have heard of include the following:

Yeast infection

Yeast infection

Yeast infection is most often caused by a species of the yeast Candida, most commonly Candida albicans, thus it is often referred to as candidiasis.

Candida is a common cause of vaginal infections in women, and Candida may cause mouth infections in people with reduced immune function, or in patients taking certain antibiotics. Candida can be found in virtually all normal people, but causes problems in only a fraction.

In recent years, however, several serious categories of candidiasis have become more common, due to the increased use of antibiotics, the rise of AIDS, the increase in the number of organ transplantations, and the use of invasive devices (catheters, artificial joints and valves)—all of which increase a patient’s susceptibility to infection.

Yellow dock

Yellow dock plant

Yellow dock (Rumex crispus) is a small, leafy plant that grows wild throughout the world. It belongs to the buckwheat or Polygonaceae family.

It has yellowish-brown roots, which accounts for its common name. The roots are 8-12 in (20-30 cm) long, about 0.5 in (1.27 cm) thick, fleshy, and usually not forked. The stem is 1-3 ft (0.3-0.9 m) high and branched.

Yellow dock is also known as curly or curled dock because of its long lance shaped leaves that are slightly ruffled along its edges. The leaves are 6-10 in (15-25 cm) long. Its leaves are used for food while both roots and leaves are used as herbal remedies. Yellow dock is closely related to rhubarb and sorrel.