Man attacked in rare wasp swarm

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An elderly man was rushed to hospital in serious condition after he was stung more than 30 times by wasps in a swarm attack on Waiheke Island.

The 66-year-old man was clearing bush yesterday morning when he disturbed a wasp nest, Westpac rescue helicopter paramedic Russell Clarke said.

"He was stung over 30 times, mainly to his face and arms," he said.

The man's brother drove him to the local GP but his condition deteriorated on the way.

Mr Clarke said the man was in a critical condition with breathing problems and low blood pressure by the time the pair arrived at the clinic.

"He was in anaphylactic shock, which is a life-threatening condition," he said.

"He wasn't allergic at all, it was just the sheer volume of stings he'd suffered. Basically he couldn't compensate for that and went into anaphylactic shock, which is a massive reaction to an allergen that enters the body."

The GP administered medicine to reverse the action of the allergens, which took hold fairly quickly.

Mr Clarke said the man was able to talk again by the time rescue helicopter staff arrived.

He was airlifted to the Auckland Hospital emergency department in a serious but stable condition.

Mr Clarke said it was quite rare to be called to incidents in which people were stung multiple times.

"We often go to people who are allergic and that have been stung once or twice, and they haven't got their medication on them and they get a bit caught out.

"But we don't go to very many people that are stung that many times."

In 2007, Wairarapa woman Mary Everitt, 85, was hospitalised in a critical condition after she suffered a stroke and fell on a wasps' nest, causing the furious insects to swarm all over her in a half-hour attack.

Neighbours and ambulance workers were unable to reach her and she was eventually rescued by two firefighters in full protective gear who fired jets of water to disperse the swarm.

In 2009, Waimauku resident Rob Wallace suffered life-threatening multiple stings that left him with no pulse, foaming at the mouth and barely able to breathe.

He recovered in hospital but doctors said he had been near death.