ACQUIRED-IMMUNITY TO AFRICANIZED HONEYBEE (APIS-MELLIFERA) VENOM IN BRAZILIAN BEEKEEPERS

Seventy-eight Brazilian beekeepers who had been stung on average six t imes per month were studied. Sixty-eight beekeepers (87.1%) showed res tricted local clinical reactions; nine individuals (11.5%) had extensi ve local reactions, and only one (1.2%) suffered anaphylactic shock. T he humoral immunologic pattern of these individuals were studied by us ing immunoenzymatic methods to determine the serum titles of specific IgE and specific IgG4. Three groups of beekeepers presenting different humoral immunologic patterns were identified, in which the predominan t pattern was the absence of specific IgE and high levels of specific IgG4 (38.4%). There was a positive correlation between the high levels of specific IgG4 and the number of bee stings. This correlation was n ot found in either specific or total IgE. The results of the present s tudy suggest: i) the immunologic response to the number of exposures t o Africanized honeybee venom is not related to the number of exposures ; and, ii) other nonhumoral and/or nonimmunologic factors may be invol ved in the reaction to the insect sting, which are responsible for bot h the clinical symptoms and protection.