Deadly stings from bees, wasps, hornets increase over last 5 years, CDC finds
New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show hornets, wasps and bees have killed more people every year for the last five reported years.
The new statistics were published Friday. They show data on deaths attributed to the flying insects from 2000 to 2017.
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The fewest deaths, 43, occurred in 2001. The most deaths, 89, occurred in 2017. Men accounted for approximately 80 percent of all the recorded deaths.
However, the CDC warned that those numbers may actually be underreported. That's because allergic reactions to hornet, wasp and bee stings can be mistakenly diagnosed as heart attacks or sunstrokes.
To put those numbers in perspective, snakes average 5-6 fatal bites per year.
