Favorable hymenoptera sting reactions during childhood may have enabled transmission of responsible allergic genotype into generations

SummaryAllergic reactions caused by hymenoptera venoms represent a major medical problem for certain groups of population. In addition to different anaphylaxis reactions, less frequent fatal cases have been recorded in Europe and USA. It has been observed that generally, following the initial anaphylaxis reaction to the venom of such insects, milder and less frequent successive reactions occur in children than in adults, though the latter are less frequently stung. Such findings could be explained by the fact that mainly children may have the advantage of self-restraining the aggravation of further reactions due to the ability of a higher plasticity of immune and non-immune protective mechanisms or the ability of adjustment of regulatory autonomous vital systems, activated after a prior allergic reaction. Hypothetically such ability has enabled most of those individuals to reach at least major age and frequently have their successors. This way the genetic lines carrying the respective allergic phenotype might have been transmitted generation after generation, although the prior allergic generations lacked modern treatment of anaphylactic reactions.