The most familiar sting is from honeybees, but some wasps and hornets and other insects can also sting. Yellow jacket wasps are the most common cause of allergic reactions to insect stings in the United States.
Bee, wasp and hornet stings are common and painful. They are usually no more serious than this, but some people can develop a life-threatening illness.
These insects stinging apparatus consists of a sac of venom attached to a barbed stinger. The wasp’s is similar, but with a smooth stinger. When a bee or wasp or a hornet stings, the sac contracts, pumping venom into the tissue.
