Natural history of allergy to Hymenoptera.

One hundred and nineteen patients who had a generalized reaction to a bee sting and who subsequently had a history of being re-stung before desensitization were studied. The reaction, in these 119 patients was as follows: 44.5% had an improved grade of reaction, 42.9% had the same grade of reaction and 12.6% had a worse grade of reaction. Of these 119 patients, 39.5% had only a local reaction to their re-sting. Those patients who were re-stung within 2 weeks (anergic period) or over 5 years after a generalized reaction to a sting had significantly improved response. Results of pretreatment RAST to venoms of hornet, yellow jacket, wasp, honey bee and to phospholipase A appeared to correlate with the clinical signs and symptoms of the previous sting in 75% of cases.