United Kingdom
Bites and stings
Use at your own risk. For education and research only, not medical advice. Check the numbers and rules for the country you are in. They change. Before you rely on these cards, have a medical professional or a fire safety specialist review them. Disclaimer
Do this first
After any sting or bite, watch the mouth and breathing for the first minutes. Swelling of the face or tongue, wheezing or faintness means call 999 now.
Most bites and stings cause pain and little else. The two serious dangers are allergy, which can strike within minutes anywhere on the body, and infection, which shows up days later. Everything in between is cleaning, cooling and waiting.
Step by step
- Insect sting: scrape a visible bee stinger out sideways with a fingernail or card, wash with soap and water, and cool it through cloth. For a sting in the mouth or throat, give ice to suck and call 999.
- Watch for allergy for thirty minutes: spreading hives, swelling of the lips or eyes, tight chest, wheezing, vomiting or faintness. Any of these means call 999, and the person's own adrenaline pen goes in first, into the outer thigh.
- Tick: grasp it with fine tweezers right at the skin and pull steadily straight out. Wash the area, note the date, and see a doctor about a growing red ring or fever in the following weeks.
- Animal or human bite: wash thoroughly with soap under running water for several minutes, cover it and see a doctor the same day. Bites can infect deeply, and rabies and tetanus need checking.
- European viper bite: call 999, keep the person still and calm, immobilise the limb at heart level, take off rings and watches, and mark the edge of the swelling with a pen and the time.
- Jellyfish: rinse with sea water, not fresh water. Lift off any tentacle pieces with tweezers or a card edge, then use hot water for the pain if you have it.
- Cool swellings through cloth. Give the person's usual antihistamine for itching if they are fully awake. Photograph the animal only if it is safe and easy.
Never do this
- Never cut, suck or tie a tourniquet on a snakebite, and never chase the snake to kill it. All of this makes things worse, and the hospital does not need the snake.
- Never squeeze a bee stinger with fingers or tweezers, because that injects the rest of the venom. Scrape it out.
- Never burn a tick, smother it with oil or twist it with your fingers. A stressed tick can vomit into the wound.
Call emergency services if
- Swelling of the face, lips or tongue, wheezing, a tight throat, widespread hives or faintness after any sting or bite.
- Every snakebite, every sting inside the mouth or throat, and dozens of stings at once.
- A bite from any animal that was wild, behaving strangely or unvaccinated, or any deep bite to the hand, face or a joint.
Common questions
When does a bite need a doctor even without allergy?
The same day for every animal or human bite that broke the skin, for punctures on the hands or face, and if your tetanus shot is over ten years old. In the days after, growing redness, warmth, pus or fever means infection.
The adrenaline pen: when and how?
Use it at the first signs of a serious reaction, without waiting. Press the orange or coloured tip against the outer thigh, straight through clothing, and hold for ten seconds. Then call 999 even if it helps, because the reaction can return.
Next cards
Sources and standards
Use at your own risk. For education and research only, not medical advice. Check the numbers and rules for the country you are in. They change. Before you rely on these cards, have a medical professional or a fire safety specialist review them.