The National Agency for Food, Environmental and Labor Health Safety (ANSES) and Public Health France have engaged in an analysis of bites (envenomations) by Hymenoptera (Wasps, Bees, hornets) in France from 2014 to 2023.
From this study, it appears that the number of bites has not increased, that it has remained relatively stable and that the most serious cases (hives, throat edema, blood pressure drop) are rare (1.5 % of the total) and essentially due to allergic reactions. They mainly concern men over the age of 60.
These are the hornets that are involved in the most serious cases: they have a “reusable” dart, capable of injecting venom with each bite and crossing materials such as rubber and leather. They received the reinforcement of the yellow leg or Asian hornet hornet, accidentally introduced into the Lot-et-Garonne in 2004, and which has since spread throughout France, including even in the North East and Alsace. Only Corsica still escapes this predator who does not have a predator …
The “envenimizations”, mostly due to the wasps, mainly took place in July and August. But the period differs at the margin depending on the species: April-August for the bees, June-September for the wasps, July October for the hornets. For the latter, the northeast departments are still the least affected: the bites are more frequent in the west, the southwest and the south-east of France. At the top, the departments of the Yvelines and Seine-et-Marne. The Grand Est appears only at the 8th rank (out of 13) of the regions of France. And it is in the territory of Belfort that we counted, for 2014-2023, the lowest rate of invenation compared to the population.
Watch out for the Grand Duke hornet
From 2014 to 2023 in France, there were 18,213 hospitalizations for Hymenoptère bite. 13 % of these hospitalizations took place in resuscitation or intensive care. 256 people died. The most marked years were 2018, 2022 and 2023.
ANSES evokes the presence in France of other invasive hornets. Thus, the Eastern hornet, accidentally introduced in the south of Spain, begins to spread in this country. It was observed in Marseille in September 2021, then in the Var and the Alpes-Maritimes in 2023. It has the advantage of having few interactions with man, not to be aggressive towards him and not to be a threat to bees.
Conversely, the arrival of the giant hornet (up to 46 millimeters long!) Grand Duke, originally from Southeast Asia, would be bad news. His presence was confirmed in Spain in March 2022. It is distinguished by a yellow head, a black thorax top, a bottom of orange chest, the first two segments of the abdomen with a gradient of yellow, orange then brown, the other segments being black. Above all, it is a “formidable predator”, which attacks in a group and which to feed on various insects, of which obviously domestic bees. Its bites are very painful and can cause severe allergic reactions in some people, up to death. His arrival in France is to be monitored “particularly”. He could find ideal conditions in the southwest to settle.
