An unusual spree of
hornet attacks in northwest China's Shaanxi Province has injured a total of
1,640 people, 42 of them fatally. Among the people injured in the attacks,
which began in July, 206 are receiving treatment in the hospital, the National
Health and Family Planning Commission said, calling for utmost efforts in
treating patients and minimizing the number of casualties. The commission asked
local health agencies to coordinate their hornet attack responses with
agricultural, forestry and firefighting departments, including stopping hornets
in populous areas, with the swarms starting to invade large cities and towns, futhering
the rate of which people have become injured or hurt.
Social media has been a
large impact on preventing numerous attacks and warnings. With the Chinese version
of twitter and Facebook readily available, people have been posting where the
attacks have occurred and have passed on vital information for how to prevent
and avoid the attacks. Officials believe that these sits have prevented and
informed people in time to stay indoors and not to venture outside.
Three medical experts in
critical care medicine, infectious disease and nephrology have been sent to the
field to aid the treatment of critical patients, the commission said that the
cause for the attacks has not been officially announced.Huang Rongyao, an
insect control expert at the Forestry Bureau of Ankang City, the worst-hit by
the hornets, attributed the trend to local vegetation growth, which has
increased the area populated by hornets, and two months of continuous hot
weather, which has made the insects unusually more active. Hua Baozhen, a
professor of entomology at Northwest Agriculture & Forestry University,
meanwhile believes the main cause is a decrease in the number of the hornets'
natural enemies, including spiders and birds, a result of ecological changes.
Elsewhere, south China's
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region also reported human injuries from hornet bites
between July and September.
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