Anchorage wasps send dozens to emergency room

ANCHORAGE - Wasps are sending more people to emergency rooms in Anchorage this year but bug experts say humans should be grateful that the carnivores prey on so many other pests.

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While most people quickly recover from painful wasp stings with minor swelling or itching, wasp venom can trigger a more severe allergic reaction.

More than 30 people have rushed to the Providence Alaska Medical Center emergency room after getting stung this summer, including four on one day this month, said emergency room charge nurse Gina Rackley. All last summer, the facility treated 20 cases.

"It's a little bit higher than what we expect," Rackley said. "We've had a couple of very serious ones with respiratory distress."

Wasps attacked Al Meiners a few weeks ago while he was leading trail work near the Eagle River Nature Center. The hornets flew up his pants, stung his hands and bit his neck.

"Oh, man, they hit me pretty good, maybe seven or eight times," said Meiners, the retired superintendent of Chugach State Park and the coordinator of trail volunteer work at the center. "They're meat eaters, and they take a little nip out of your skin."

One hour later, the striped bugs struck again, sending Meiners to the hospital for treatment of an allergic reaction.

"That time, I felt really strange, and my wife said I was looking green," he said. "I'm very paranoid of them now. When I see little yellow-and-black things, I go on alert."

August's hot, dry weather and a healthy crop of aphids and other bugs have nurtured wasps.

"Yellow jacket" is the common name for several species of wasps, which can sting nest intruders more than once. They build homes that look as if they're made of paper, often in underground cavities or beneath roots but also dangling from tree branches or house eaves.

Drones wing out in search of meat, usually in the form of what humans consider insect pests.

"The thing I'd really like to impress on people is that these are good guys," said Fred Sorensen, integrated pest management coordinator for the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service in Anchorage. "They take care of a lot of our pests that are out in your garden. If (their nest is) not right in the way, I would recommend that we leave them alone."

Adults keep themselves going by swilling nectar, sap or other sweet stuff.

"People get stung mostly because they swat at them," Sorensen said. "Once they land on your shirt, they're going to say, 'This isn't a flower' and they'll go away. But once you start swatting at them, they're going to get aggravated."