On the occurrence of bethylid wasp, Cephalonomia gallicola (Ashmead), with reference to its injuries to man in Nagoya, Japan

Abstract

In 1975,82 human cases of Cephalonomia gallicola stings were reported to the Nagoya City Health Centers. Since then, complaints about the wasp stings had increased year by year, and in 1978 annual cases of the complaints amounted to 295. These were reported from the residents of 149 buildings in the city. Most of the buildings were the apartment houses made of reinforced concrete, making up 77.5% of all the sites of the incidence. No statistically significant difference was found between the incidence rates of the upper and lower floors of these apartment houses. These wasp stings were encountered mainly during the warm months from May to October (97.3%); more than half of the patients were stung at night (53.1%). The parts of their bodies stung were the bare-arms and legs (51.0%), followed by the trunk (31.8%) and the neck (17.2%). Most victims suffered itching local pains soon after the sting, and in a few days, erythemas usually less than 3×3cm in size developed around the sting sites in 84.1% of the patients. Cure was attained in 3-7 days in 76.8% of them.