A 57-year-old man almost lost his life after being stung 240 times by a swarm of wasps.
Brecon, Wales resident Andrew Powell was feeding his chickens after returning home from a bike ride on Sunday, Aug. 18, when the wasps suddenly “swarmed at [him], reports Sky News.
“It was like a scene from a movie,” Powell recalled to The Daily Express. “I was standing at the garden gate when I saw them heading towards me. I said, ‘Oh my God’ and ran…”
Stock image of wasps.
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While he believes they may have been upset because a farmer was combining fields in the area, he says they continued to attack him as he made his way inside his home, going “in and out of consciousness.”
His 54-year-old wife, Gina, attempted to repel the wasps by throwing water at them, but to no avail.
“She got stung too,” Powell told The Daily Express. “They followed me in, and stung me through my clothes in the shower. The bathroom was full of them.”
Stock image of a hospital room.
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He was taken to the Brecon War Memorial Hospital and later transferred to the Prince Charles Hospital, where doctors, who initially believed he had 160 stings, continued to discover even more on his body.
“The pain is still horrendous,” he told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast. “Every day I’m finding more and more stings. There are 50 on one side of my buttock that I didn’t realize were there because I was so focused on my chest and back. I’ve got 20 on the back of my head, 20 on my neck and my wife counted more than 80 on each arm.”
According to Verywell Health, the common symptoms of wasp stings include “localized itching, swelling, and pain.”
Stock image of a hospital room.
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He was taken to the Brecon War Memorial Hospital and later transferred to the Prince Charles Hospital, where doctors, who initially believed he had 160 stings, continued to discover even more on his body.
“The pain is still horrendous,” he told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast. “Every day I’m finding more and more stings. There are 50 on one side of my buttock that I didn’t realize were there because I was so focused on my chest and back. I’ve got 20 on the back of my head, 20 on my neck and my wife counted more than 80 on each arm.”
According to Verywell Health, the common symptoms of wasp stings include “localized itching, swelling, and pain.”
Stock image of wasps.
Getty
“If your wasp sting symptoms are more than localized pain, swelling, and redness, it is a good idea to seek medical advice. If you experience any signs of an allergic reaction, don’t wait to see if it becomes severe—seek emergency care immediately,” the organization advises on its website.
While Powell is now out of the hospital and recovering at home, he told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast that he hasn’t gone outside since his return after a pest control technician informed him there are still “thousands of wasps around” the area.
