Acute lung injury after bee sting acupuncture

Bee stings can cause severe adverse reactions. There have been no cases of acute lung injury induced by bee sting acupuncture. We report a case of a 52-year-old male who required high flow oxygen therapy because of acute lung injury by bee sting acupuncture. The patient had been treated with live bee sting acupuncture by himself for knee pain. After self-injections of live bee sting, he immediately presented with generalized urticaria that remitted within 3 hours after taking an oral antihistamine. Ten days later, he visited our emergency department due to dyspnea and dizziness. He was diagnosed with acute lung injury by bee sting acupuncture based upon a history of symptom onset after exposure to the allergen and clinical test results. This case emphasizes that practitioners should consider potential risks of delayed-onset adverse reactions induced by bee sting acupuncture. (Allergy Asthma Respir Dis 2015;3:151-154)