•  Quick, sharp pain.

•  Swelling.

•  Itching.

•  Redness at the sting site.

•  Hives.

•  Keep food and drink containers tightly covered. (Bees love sweet things, like soft drinks.)

•  Don’t wear perfume, colognes, or hair spray when you are outdoors.

•  Don’t wear bright colors, like white or yellow. Choose neutral colors, like tan or khaki. Wear snug clothing that covers your arms and legs.

•  Don’t go barefoot. If camping, look for insects in your shoes before you put them on.

•  Wear an insect repellent, especially if you are sensitive to insect stings.

•  Be careful when you work outdoors, pull weeds, mow tall grass, and work around shutters. Bees often build hives behind shutters.

•  If an insect that stings gets in your car, stop the car. Put the windows down. Once the insect leaves, resume driving.

•  Check for and repair openings in your window screens.

•  For a bee sting, gently scrape out the stinger as soon as possible. Use a blunt knife, credit card, or a fingernail. Yellow jackets, wasps, and hornets don’t lose their stingers.

•  Don’t pull the stinger out with your fingers or tweezers. Don’t squeeze the stinger. It contains venom. You could re-sting yourself.

•  Clean the sting area with soapy water.

•  Remove jewelry from bitten fingers, wrists, etc. It may be difficult to remove jewelry once swelling occurs.

•  Put a cold compress (ice in a cloth, etc.) on the sting. Don’t put ice directly on the skin. Hold the cold compress on the site for 10 to 15 minutes.

•  Keep the sting area lower than heart level.

•  Take an over-the-counter medicine for pain as directed on the label.

•  For itching and swelling, apply a topical 1% hydrocortisone cream and/or take an over- the-counter antihistamine, such as Benadryl, if okay with your doctor. Follow directions on the labels.

•  Fainting or decreasing level of consciousness.

•  Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing or swallowing.

•  Severe swelling all over or of the face, lips, tongue, and/or throat.

•  Pale or bluish lips, skin, and/or fingernails.

•  Wheezing.

•  Dizziness, weakness, and/or numbness.

•  Cool, moist skin or sudden onset of pale skin and sweating.