Woman's death from sting stuns Junction City family.

Byline: TIM CHRISTIE The Register-Guard

On Sunday afternoon, Norma Rossiter was helping clean up a friend's Eugene rental house when a bee or wasp stung her on a fingertip.

On Thursday, doctors at Sacred Heart Medical Center disconnected a comatose Rossiter from life support as her husband, family and friends stood by.

Rossiter, a 55-year-old Junction City resident, died about 2 1/2 hours later. She suffered massive anaphylactic shock from the insect sting, possibly delivered by a yellow jacket. The shock left her brain-dead, said her husband of four years.

"The first thing you think of is, how could a bee sting be fatal," John Rossiter said. "If she had been in a serious car accident or if lightning had struck her ... you don't think a bee sting is going to do it."

Deaths from wasp and bee stings are rare: Between 50 and 100 deaths are reported each year in the United States, though there may be many more that aren't attributed to stings, experts say.

Norma Rossiter was healthy and physically strong, her husband said. She worked as a real estate agent and as a landscaper. One friend called her "The Mole" because she worked so hard when she was landscaping, John Rossiter said.

She knew that she was allergic to bees, Rossiter said, though she got stung last year and suffered no ill effects. She even had a bee sting kit, containing the stimulant epinephrine, but she didn't have it when she was stung Sunday.

She and her stepson, John Rossiter Jr., were cleaning up a friend's rental home on Garfield Street in west Eugene.

Her stepson was working outside and Norma Rossiter was working inside before she came out to trim some bushes and noticed the insects flying in and out of a shingle on the front porch. She wrote herself a note to buy some bee spray.

Then she was stung.

"Norma hollered for me that she got stung by a bee," John Rossiter Jr. said. "She walked out in the yard and told me I better get her some help."

She took a couple of steps, sat down in the front yard and fell over.

John Jr. called 911 on her cell phone and paramedics arrived within 10 minutes.

They performed CPR for 15 minutes in the yard, then took her to the emergency department at Sacred Heart. After 30 more minutes of treatment, Rossiter's heart rhythm returned, said Dr. Dainis Irbe, the neurologist who treated Rossiter.

But lack of blood flow to her brain and brain stem caused her to suffer a massive stroke, he said. Her brain swelled, and Rossiter never regained consciousness.

That kind of a fatal reaction to an insect sting is rare. For most people, an insect sting will cause nothing more than short-term itching, burning and redness.

In Oregon, on average, one person has a fatal reaction to a bee or wasp sting every other year, said entomologist Michael Burgett at Oregon State University. Between 1980 and 1996, stinging and biting insects caused 13 deaths in Oregon, accounting for 17 percent of animal-caused deaths, according to the state Center for Health Statistics.

It's not clear whether Rossiter was stung by a honey bee or a wasp, such as a yellow jacket. Her husband said it was a bee; but the area where the insects were nesting - in the dirt of a planting box on the porch - would point to yellow jackets. Experts say yellow jackets commonly build nests below ground, under eaves and inside attics or wall voids.

Yellow jackets are the insect most responsible for stings and allergic reactions to stings, said Dr. Emil Bardana, an allergist at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland.

"These insects nest in the ground and are easily disturbed," he said.

Between 1 percent and 3 percent of the population is allergic to some degree to the venom of bees and wasps, experts say. But unlike other allergens, such as pollen, bee and wasp allergens are delivered through an injection into the skin, Bardana said.

Some people react by going into anaphylactic shock, he said, which brings on a host of symptoms simultaneously: hives and swelling of the tongue or larynx; obstruction of the upper airways; irregular heart rhythm; low blood pressure; and circulatory collapse.

A person can grow allergic to insect venom through repeated stings, he said. The first few stings may not cause severe reactions, but will sensitize the person to the venom.

"It's very difficult to predict," he said.

STINGING INSECTS

Wasps -including yellow jackets, baldfaced hornets and paper wasps - and bees sting to defend themselves or their colony. The sting injects a protein venom that can cause pain and other reactions. A person may be allergic to wasp venom but not to bee venom, and vice versa.

Wasps and bumblebees can sting more than once because they're able to pull out their stinger without hurting themselves.

Honey bees have barbed stingers that remain hooked in the skin. The stinger, connected to the bee's digestive system, is torn out of the abdomen when the bee attempts to fly away, killing the bee.

If a honey bee stings you, scrape out the stinger with your fingernail or a credit card. Don't try to pull it out between two fingers or tweezers; that just squeezes more venom into your skin, causing more irritation.

Nonallergic reactions include burning, itching, redness, tenderness and swelling that might last up to a week; treat with ice, vinegar, honey, meat tenderizer or commercial topical ointment to relieve the itching.

Minor allergic reactions may include hives, rash, swelling away from the sting site, headache, minor respiratory symptoms and stomach upset.

Severe, systemic allergic reactions are rare, but can cause anaphylactic shock: fainting, difficulty breathing, swelling, blockage in the throat within minutes. People with known systemic allergies to insect venom should talk to their doctor about getting a bee sting kit, containing epinephrine, to carry at all times.

- University of Minnesota Extension Service

CAPTION(S):

STINGING INSECTS Wasps -including yellow jackets, baldfaced hornets and paper wasps - and bees sting to defend themselves or their colony. The sting injects a protein venom that can cause pain and other reactions. A person may be allergic to wasp venom but not to bee venom, and vice versa. Wasps and bumblebees can sting more than once because they're able to pull out their stinger without hurting themselves. Honey bees have barbed stingers that remain hooked in the skin. The stinger, connected to the bee's digestive system, is torn out of the abdomen when the bee attempts to fly away, killing the bee. If a honey bee stings you, scrape out the stinger with your fingernail or a credit card. Don't try to pull it out between two fingers or tweezers; that just squeezes more venom into your skin, causing more irritation. Nonallergic reactions include burning, itching, redness, tenderness and swelling that might last up to a week; treat with ice, vinegar, honey, meat tenderizer or commercial topical ointment to relieve the itching. Minor allergic reactions may include hives, rash, swelling away from the sting site, headache, minor respiratory symptoms and stomach upset. Severe, systemic allergic reactions are rare, but can cause anaphylactic shock: fainting, difficulty breathing, swelling, blockage in the throat within minutes. People with known systemic allergies to insect venom should talk to their doctor about getting a bee sting kit, containing epinephrine, to carry at all times. - University of Minnesota Extension Service PAUL CARTER / The Register-Guard John Rossiter grips a picture of his wife, Norma, whose allergy to bee stings led to her death Thursday. She was a real estate agent and a landscaper. One friend called her "The Mole" because she worked so hard when she was landscaping. "The first thing you think of is, how could a bee sting be fatal?" - JOHN ROSSITER, whose wife, Norma, died Thursday