U.S. Bee-Injury Burden

The Real Scale of U.S. Bee Injuries

Honey Bee Awareness documents serious public-safety incidents one case at a time. National medical, mortality, poison-center, workplace, EMS, fire-service, veterinary, and insurance systems hold other pieces of the picture. This page brings those layers together without pretending overlapping records are separate people.

4.05 million Estimated cumulative bee-related U.S. ER visits 2001-2025, through the latest completed calendar year. Derived from the published national bee-specific annual average; not a newly measured count.

1,620,796 Published bee-related U.S. ER visits 2001-2010 measured study period supporting the annual rate and cumulative estimate.

162,080 Average bee-related ER visits per year Annual average from the same 2001-2010 national surveillance study.

1.17 million Noncanine bite-and-sting ER visits per year Newer 2011-2015 national study. This is broader than bees and must not be treated as a bee-only total.

71% Insect share of the newer national estimate The published abstract does not provide a separate bee-only number for 2011-2015.

788 U.S. hornet, wasp, and bee sting deaths CDC mortality total for 2011-2021. This combined category is not honey-bee-only.

The records did not stop in 2010. A newer national study covers 2011–2015, but it reports a broader noncanine bite-and-sting category. Honey Bee Awareness has not located a directly comparable published bee-only national ER total after 2015. That reporting gap is stated plainly instead of being filled with a projection.

What the National Data Shows

The detailed HBA incident file is not the size of the national problem. It is the case-by-case layer. Extending the published national bee-specific annual average through the latest completed calendar year produces a current cumulative estimate of 4.05 million bee-related ER visits from 2001 through 2025.

Other records sit in separate systems: mortality records, poison centers, EMS, fire departments, workplaces, veterinary clinics, insurers, and other agencies. Some of those systems overlap with each other. We show them separately so the public can see every documented layer without inflating them into a false grand total.

Other National Records Already Uncovered

812,357 Hornet/wasp/bee ED encounters Separate national weighted hospital estimate for 2010–2014. It overlaps other ER systems and is shown separately, not added to the bee-related 2001-2010 estimate.

13,036 Bee/wasp/hornet poison-center cases in 2000 National Poison Data System annual benchmark.

8,143 Bee/wasp/hornet poison-center cases in 2021 National Poison Data System annual benchmark.

212 Confirmed Texas stinging incidents, 1991–1993 Early post-arrival Texas benchmark reported in the peer-reviewed literature.

Published U.S. Sting-Mortality Rates Across Study Periods

These periods are not identical datasets and some overlap. The point is to show the published historical record, not to combine the bars into one total.

1979-1990

43.9/yr

1991-2001

48.5/yr

1999-2007

56.6/yr

2008-2015

59.8/yr

2018-2023

82.8/yr

Historical context: a 1963 CDC training publication estimated about 12 bee deaths per year at that time. Later mortality series generally combine hornets, wasps, and bees, so the categories are not perfectly identical.

What We Are Still Pulling Out of the Record

EMS / AmbulanceNational EMS data are available. Bee-specific extraction is the next step.

Fire DepartmentsNational incident data are available. Bee-specific response totals still need extraction.

Veterinary / Animal CasesNational animal and insurer datasets exist, but we still need bee-specific totals.

Workplace IncidentsOSHA records have already produced bee-sting cases; the national search is being expanded.

Poison CentersAnnual national bee/wasp/hornet numbers are already visible; the full historical series is being verified.

InsuranceClaims data exist inside health and pet-insurance systems. Absolute bee-specific totals are being pursued.

Verified and Public-Ready Bulk Records

This table is generated from the central HBA evidence registry. Overlapping systems are intentionally listed separately.

Data System	Measure	Value	Period	Scope	Source
Current cumulative estimate	Estimated cumulative bee-related emergency-department visits through the latest completed calendar year	4.05 million estimated visits	2001-2025	Bee-specific basis	National Estimates of Noncanine Bite and Sting Injuries Treated in US Hospital Emergency Departments, 2001-2010
Emergency department	Published bee-related emergency-department visits	1,620,796 visits	2001-2010	Bee-specific	National Estimates of Noncanine Bite and Sting Injuries Treated in US Hospital Emergency Departments, 2001-2010
Emergency department	Average annual estimated bee-related emergency-department visits	162,080 visits per year	2001-2010	Bee-specific	National Estimates of Noncanine Bite and Sting Injuries Treated in US Hospital Emergency Departments, 2001-2010
Emergency department	Estimated annual noncanine bite-and-sting emergency-department visits	1.17 million visits per year	2011-2015	All noncanine bite and sting sources; not bee-specific	National Estimates of Noncanine Bite and Sting Injuries Treated in US Hospital Emergency Departments, 2011-2015
Emergency department	Insect share of noncanine bite-and-sting emergency-department injuries	71%	2011-2015	Insects collectively; not bee-specific	National Estimates of Noncanine Bite and Sting Injuries Treated in US Hospital Emergency Departments, 2011-2015
Mortality	Deaths with hornet/wasp/bee sting as underlying cause	788 deaths	2011-2021	Hornets, wasps, and bees combined (ICD-10 X23)	CDC MMWR QuickStats, 2011-2021
Emergency department	ED encounters for hornet/wasp/bee envenomation	812,357 encounters	2010-2014	Hornets, wasps, and bees combined	Mortality, hospital admission, and healthcare cost due to injury from venomous and non-venomous animal encounters in the USA
Commercial pollination	Honey-bee colonies moved for pollination	nearly 2 million colonies	Report published 2019	Managed honey-bee colonies	USDA ARS: long-distance movement of honey-bee colonies
Beekeeping economics	U.S. pollination income	$225 million USD	2025	Commercial beekeeping	USDA NASS: 2025 honey, pollination income, and queen-price data
Beekeeping economics	Average price paid per queen	$22 per queen	2025	Managed honey-bee queens	USDA NASS: 2025 honey, pollination income, and queen-price data
Honey market	Imported share of U.S. honey supply	78%	2025	Honey market	USDA ERS: imported honey share of the U.S. supply
Population genetics	Colonies showing African mitochondrial DNA within four years	more than 70%	Within four years of invasion	Maternal-line mitochondrial DNA marker	USDA ARS: rapid Africanization documented in southern Arizona
Mortality	Deaths with hornet/wasp/bee sting as underlying cause	1,109 deaths	2000-2017	Hornets, wasps, and bees combined (ICD-10 X23)	CDC MMWR QuickStats, 2000-2017
Poison centers	Bee/wasp/hornet exposure cases reported to poison centers	13,036 cases	2000	Bee, wasp, or hornet combined	AAPCC/NPDS 2000 Annual Report
Poison centers	Bee/wasp/hornet sting cases reported to poison centers	8,143 cases	2021	Bee, wasp, or hornet combined	2021 Annual Report of the National Poison Data System
Economic burden	Estimated annual direct medical and work-time-loss cost for noncanine bite and sting injuries	7,500,000,000 USD per year	Study based on 2001-2010 injury data	Not bee-specific	National Estimates of Noncanine Bite and Sting Injuries Treated in US Hospital Emergency Departments, 2001-2010
Mortality	Deaths with hornet/wasp/bee sting as underlying cause	497 deaths	2018-2023	Hornets, wasps, and bees combined (ICD-10 X23)	Animal-Related Fatalities in the United States (2018-2023), using CDC WONDER
Historical mortality	Hornet/wasp/bee deaths, estimated from venomous-animal total and published Hymenoptera share	~527 deaths	1979-1990	Hornets, wasps, and bees combined	Langley & Morrow, Deaths resulting from animal attacks in the United States
Historical mortality	Hornet/bee/wasp deaths	533 deaths	1991-2001	Hornets, bees, and wasps combined	Langley, Animal-Related Fatalities in the United States—An Update
Historical mortality	Hornet/wasp/bee deaths	509 deaths	1999-2007	Hornets, wasps, and bees combined	Forrester et al., Fatalities From Venomous and Nonvenomous Animals in the United States
Historical mortality	Hornet/wasp/bee deaths	478 deaths	2008-2015	Hornets, wasps, and bees combined	Forrester et al., An Update on Fatalities Due to Venomous and Nonvenomous Animals in the United States
Historical mortality	Hornet/wasp/bee deaths	497 deaths	2018-2023	Hornets, wasps, and bees combined	Animal-Related Fatalities in the United States (2018-2023), using CDC WONDER
Historical mortality	Approximate annual deaths attributed specifically to bees	12 deaths per year	circa 1963	Bees only	CDC Training Program: Envenomization (1963)

What These Numbers Do — and Do Not — Mean

They show a large national burden. Bee-related injury records are not limited to the few hundred serious incidents HBA has reconstructed individually.
The 4.05 million cumulative estimate is not an Africanized-bee-only count. It covers bee-related injuries generally and is used to show the broader national medical burden, not to label every case as a killer-bee attack.
The cumulative figure is an estimate through 2025, not a newly measured count. It applies the published bee-specific national annual average to the years after the study period because no newer national bee-only total has been published.
They come from different systems. A person can appear in an ambulance record, an ER record, and a mortality record, so those systems cannot simply be added together as unique attacks.
Unreported incidents still exist outside these systems. If no hospital, ambulance, fire department, veterinarian, poison center, insurer, or reporting agency receives the case, it will not appear in these datasets.
That is why centralized reporting matters. HBA is working toward a clearer national picture by bringing these fragmented records into one transparent public-safety framework.