Diversity of compounds in Vespa spp. venom and the epidemiology of its sting: a global appraisal
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REVIEW ARTICLE
Diversity of compounds in Vespa spp. venom and the epidemiology of its sting: a global appraisal Cayetano Herrera1 · Mar Leza1 · Emma Martínez‑López2,3 Received: 3 April 2020 / Accepted: 4 May 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Poisonous animals imply a risk to human life, because their venom is a complex mixture of low molecular weight components, peptides and proteins. Hornets use the venom for self-defence, to repel intruders and to capture prey, but they can cause poisoning and allergic reactions to people. In particular, they seem to be a health problem in the countries where they are native due to their sting, which in the most severe cases can lead to severe or fatal systemic anaphylaxis. But this situation is being an emerging problem for new countries and continents because hornet incursions are increasing in the global change scenario, such as in Europe and America. Furthermore, 55 detailed cases of hornet sting were found in 27 papers during the current review where 36.4% died due to, mainly, a multi-organ failure, where renal failure and liver dysfunction were the most common complications. Moreover, the great taxonomic, ecological diversity, geographical distribution and the wide spectrum of pathophysiological symptoms of hornets have been the focus of new research. Considering this, the present systematic review summarizes the current knowledge about the components of Vespa venom and the epidemiology of its sting to serve as reference for the new research focused on the development of techniques for diagnosis, new drugs and treatments of its sting. Keywords Venom · Sting · Hornet · Vespa · Health
Introduction Social hymenoptera are one of the most diverse groups within poisonous animals that can sting, such as bees (Apoidea), wasps (Vespidae) and ants (Formicidae) (Fig. 1) (Bazon et al. 2018; dos Santos-Pinto et al. 2018; Kosnik et al. 2002; Kularatne et al. 2014; Lopes et al. 2017; Shin et al. 2012; Sookrung et al. 2014). Sting cases usually happen accidentally; however, one of the most dangerous characteristics of social hymenoptera is when the colony is
* Mar Leza [email protected] 1
Department of Biology (Zoology), University of the Balearic Islands, Palma, Balearic Islands, Spain
2
Area of Toxicology, Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain
3
Toxicology and Risk Assessment Group, Biomedical Research Institute of Murcia (IMIB‑Arrixaca), University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain
disturbed, which can lead to a massive attack and produce an important poisoning (Spradbery 1973). Hymenoptera species which sting humans are less than 200, reducing to 100 those species whose sting is more common. Of these, only bees (Apis = 7 spp), yellow jackets (Vespula = ∼ 12 spp.) and hornets (Vespa = ∼ 12 spp.) are able to kill people through direct poisoning, adding to the cases of death due to allergy (Schmidt 2018). Several studies in recent decades have focused on the isol
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