Emergency Cards EN

International

Bites and stings

Reviewed

Use at your own risk. Educational and research use only, not medical advice. Verify numbers and rules for the country you are in. They change. Before you rely on these cards in practice, review them with a medical professional or a fire safety specialist. Disclaimer

Do this first

For any sting or bite watch the mouth and breathing for the first minutes. Swelling of face or tongue, wheezing or faintness means 112 now.

Most bites and stings are pain, not danger. The two real killers are allergy, which strikes in minutes anywhere on the body, and infection, which arrives days later. Everything in between is cleaning, cooling and patience.

Step by step

  1. Insect sting: scrape a visible bee stinger out sideways with a fingernail or card, wash with soap and water, cool through cloth. A sting in the mouth or throat gets ice to suck and a 112 call.
  2. Watch for allergy for thirty minutes: hives spreading, swelling of lips or eyes, tight chest, wheezing, vomiting or faintness. Any of these means 112, and the person's own adrenaline pen first, into the outer thigh.
  3. Tick: grasp it with fine tweezers right at the skin and pull steadily straight out. Wash, note the date, and see a doctor about a growing red ring or fever in the weeks after.
  4. Animal or human bite: wash thoroughly under running water with soap for several minutes, cover, and see a doctor the same day. Bites infect deeply, and rabies and tetanus need checking.
  5. European viper bite: call 112, keep the person still and calm, immobilise the limb at heart level, take off rings and watches, and mark the swelling edge with a pen and the time.
  6. Jellyfish: rinse with sea water, not fresh water, lift off tentacle bits with tweezers or a card edge, then hot water for the pain if available.
  7. Cool swellings through cloth, give the person's usual antihistamine for itch if they are fully awake, and photograph the animal only if it is safe and free.

Never do this

  • Never cut, suck or tourniquet a snakebite, and never chase the snake to kill it. All of it worsens the outcome, and the hospital does not need the body.
  • Never squeeze a bee stinger with fingers or tweezers, that injects the rest of the venom. Scrape it.
  • Never burn a tick, smother it with oil or twist it with fingers. Stressed ticks vomit into the wound.

Call emergency services if

  • Face, lip or tongue swelling, wheezing, 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, strange-acting or unvaccinated, or any deep bite to hand, face or joint.

Common questions

When does a bite need a doctor even without allergy?

Same day for every animal and human bite that broke skin, for punctures on hands and 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?

At the first signs of a serious reaction, not as a last resort. Orange or coloured tip against the outer thigh, straight through clothing, hold ten seconds. Then 112 even if it helps, the reaction can return.

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Sources and standards

Use at your own risk. Educational and research use only, not medical advice. Verify numbers and rules for the country you are in. They change. Before you rely on these cards in practice, review them with a medical professional or a fire safety specialist.