This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Apitherapy is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
Apitherapy is the medical use of honey bee products. This can include the use of honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly, and bee venom.
Most claims of apitherapy have not been proved to the scientific standards of evidence-based medicine and are anecdotal in nature. A wide variety of conditions and diseases have been suggested by believers in the therapy as candidates for it, the most well-known being bee venom therapy for autoimmune diseases and multiple sclerosis.
Contents |
History
The exact origins of apitherapy are difficult to pinpoint and can be traced back, in a general sense, to ancient Egypt, Greece and China. Use of honey and other bee products can be traced back thousands of years and healing properties are included in many religious texts including the Veda, Bible and Quran. These are mostly attributed to nutritional benefits of consumption of bee-products and not use of bee venom.
The more modern study of apitherapy, specifically bee venom, was initiated through the efforts of Austrian physician Phillip Terc in his published results "Report about a Peculiar Connection Between the Bee stings and Rheumatism" in 1888. More recent popularity can be drawn to Charles Mraz (1905-1999) a beekeeper from Vermont, United States over the past 60 years.1 (Also see Bodog Beck, M.D.)
Clinical practice
While 'Apitherapy' encompasses use or consumption of bee products, the term is most commonly associated with bee venom therapy and not the consumption of honey or other bee products.
Bee venom therapy is claimed to be of use in arthritis, bursitis, tendonitis, dissolving scar tissue (e.g. keloids), and Herpes zoster, among other illnesses.
The most abundant active component of the venom is melittin, which has a powerful anti-inflammatory action. However, bee venom is a complex mix of a variety of peptides and proteins, some of which have strong neurotoxic and immunogenic effects.
There is no standardized practice for the administration of bee venom. Somewho? purport that the location of the sting is important, with the sting acting as a sort of acupuncture in combination with the effects of the venom, while otherswho? report the location is not important. The number of stings also varies widely from a few to hundreds and they may be administered either by live bees or by injection. This treatment can cause pain, and even result in death if the subject has an allergy to bee venom, which can produce anaphylactic shock.
Scientific research
In a controlled study from Allegheny University of the Health Sciences in Philadelphia, bee venom was found to have no positive effects at any dosage in mice with Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, the animal model for multiple sclerosis. Additionally many of the animals expressed worse symptoms from the placebo groups.2
Phase I of a study at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, DC, funded by the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America (MSAA) was geared towards safety in administering bee venom treatments to humans with multiple sclerosis. 1
References
- ^ a b "Health and the Honey Bee" (2007-03-07).
- ^ "No Beneficial Effect of Bee Venom in Study Using Animal Model for MS". Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada (1998-06-02). Retrieved on 2007-03-07.
External links
Advocates
- American Apitherapy Society
- Apitherapy News
- Georgetown Study
- The Bible of Bee Venom Therapy
- Live Bee Venom Therapy Demonstration
Critical
- Bee Venom Therapy - By Steven Novella MD, President of the New England Skeptical Society
- Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada, Bee Venom Study
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 17 November 2008, at 02:01.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Apitherapy".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.