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Fear of bees


Fear of bees (or of bee stings), technically known as melissophobia (from Greek: μέλισσα, melissa, "honey bee" + , phobos, "fear") and occasionally misspelled as melissaphobia and also known as apiphobia (from Latin apis for "honey bee" + Greek: φόβος, phobos, "fear"), is one of the common fears among people and is a kind of specific phobia.

Most people have been stung by a bee or had friends or family members stung. A child may fall victim by treading on a bee while playing outside. The sting can be quite painful and in some individuals results in swelling which may last for several days, and can also provoke allergic reactions such as anaphylaxis, so the development of loathsome fear of bees is quite natural.

Ordinary (non-phobic) fear of bees in adults is generally associated with lack of knowledge. The general public is not aware that bees attack in defense of their hive, or when accidentally squashed, and an occasional bee in a field presents no danger. Moreover, the majority of insect stings in the United States are attributed to yellowjacket wasps, which are often mistaken for a honeybee.

Unreasonable fear of bees in humans may also have a detrimental effect on ecology. Bees are important pollinators, and when, in their fear, people destroy wild colonies of bees, they contribute to environmental damage and may also be the cause of the disappearing bees.

The renting of bee colonies for pollination of crops is the primary source of income for beekeepers in the US, but as the fears of bees spread, it becomes hard to find a location for the colonies because of the growing objections of local population.

A widespread fear of bees has been triggered by rumors about "killer bees". In particular, the Africanized bee is widely feared by the American public, a reaction that has been amplified by sensationalist movies and some of the media reports. Stings from Africanized bees kill one to two people per year in the United States, a rate that makes them less dangerous than venomous snakes, particularly since, unlike venomous snakes, they are found only in a small portion of the country.


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Wikipedia

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