A specialist in Gaza, Palestine is using bees to cure a variety of diseases that are challenging to cure. He claims that his bee sting therapy has treated chronic and fatal diseases like autism, cancer and cerebral palsy.
Rateb Samour, a 58-year-old Palestinian, said the practice of bee sting therapy was handed down to him by his father. Samour is neither a doctor nor a medical staff, but he has been treating 250 patients daily using bee sting therapy, Fox News reported.
Wonders Of Bee Sting
In Samour's alternative medicine, bees are made to sting specific points in a patient's body after a thorough examination. Aside from autism, cancer and cerebral palsy, he claimed that his bee sting therapy also cured alopecia areata (hair loss), neck and spine chondritis (inflammation of cartilage), migraine and skin diseases. A bee, however, dies after stinging.
Bee sting therapy is part of apitherapy, which uses products made by honeybees for medicinal purposes. That includes the bees' honey, venom, pollen, royal jelly and propolis, a resinous substance that bees use to glue their hives and seal honeycombs, Fox News wrote.
Poor Access To Sophisticated Health Care Pushes People To Seek Alternatives
Since ISIS gained a foothold in Gaza, it has become difficult for people to obtain access to high-end medical equipment and competent health care. Patients who are suffering from grave illnesses have to travel to Egypt, Israel and farther to get medical treatment from experts. This problem has pushed people to seek alternative and more affordable forms of treatment such as bee sting therapy.
Samour claimed that even doctors undergo his bee sting treatment. A government official, who has a daughter being treated by bee stings, said Samour's technique is more effective than any medical treatment they tried. Bee sting therapy, however, takes longer to treat patients compared to any sophisticated methods commonly used in other parts of the globe.
Bee Stings: Side Effects And Benefits
People who undergo apitherapy treatment get bee stings more than 80 times a day. The American Apitherapy Society said apitherapy aids in lowering the symptoms of gout, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis, among others. Apitherapy is an ancient practice, but there is little research conducted on the subject.
A study published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, or NCBI, advised practitioners to be cautious when giving bee sting therapy. Some patients may be severely and fatally allergic to bees without them knowing. Bee stings could also cause swelling and infection, Health wrote.
