Victim of 250 wasp stings fears going outside

A man who was stung hundreds of times by a swarm of wasps says he is still too scared to go outside.

Andrew Powell, 57, initially thought he had been stung 160 times after they invaded his home near Brecon, Powys, on Sunday - but said he has now counted more than 250 stings across his body.

He was taken to hospital for treatment and was told he was five minutes from death.

"We've got amazing views from the house but I haven't been outside since Sunday," he told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.

"I certainly haven't been near the back of the garage where my bikes are.

"I've had a pest man around to sort the problem and he said there were still thousands of wasps around. He warned me not to go near there because they might smell the stings on me."

Mr Powell is now recovering at home and has since discovered the full extent of the attack.

As well as having counted more than 250 stings all over his body, he said there has also been a psychological impact.

"I was in and out of consciousness but they gave me morphine and adrenaline which saved my life," said Mr Powell.

"The nurses said five minutes more and that would have been it... gone."

The festival organiser previously described how the "sky turned brown" as he was swarmed by thousands of wasps from a neighbouring farm, having just taken off his motorbike leathers.

"Within seconds they were all over me," he said.

"I ran into the house and into the shower hoping the power of the water would get them off.

"The bottom of the bath was black with them and they were all over the windowsill.

"It was like a Nightmare on Elm Street but in my bathroom."

He added: "The pain is still horrendous. Every day I'm finding more and more stings.

"There are 50 on one side of my buttock that I didn't realise were there because I was so focused on my chest and back.

"I've got 20 on the back of my head, 20 on my neck and my wife counted more than 80 on each arm."

Richard Jones, a fellow of the Royal Entomological Society, said he suspected that the nearby farm machinery may have disturbed the nest.

"The trouble is, a wasps nest at the height of season, you may 5-10,000 insects in there.

"If the wasp nest is disturbed violently and vigorously, and out they come looking for whatever's done this, they will attack the first thing that they find.

"Normally if you get away from one or two that's fine, the moment they start stinging you, the moment you start batting, squashing and disturbing them, they release a scent that aggravates the others in the cloud.

"You are effectively labelled, they will then target you and I think that's what happened in this case," he told BBC Radio 2's Jeremy Vine show.

Mr Powell said his experience highlighted issues around proposals to reduce the operating hours of the minor injuries unit at Brecon War Memorial Hospital where he was initially treated before moving to Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil.

But Powys Teaching Health Board stressed that community hospitals, such as that in Brecon, do not provide acute and emergency care.

Executive medical director Kate Wright added that minor injury units (MIUs) often had to close in evenings and overnight due to staffing levels.

“I cannot stress strongly enough that community hospitals in Powys do not provide acute care," she said.

"They do not have the staffing and equipment to treat medical emergencies. Whilst nurses will try to provide first aid help, attending an MIU can cause a dangerous delay to receiving essential time critical care.

"Instead, they provide those services that it is safe and appropriate to offer in a rural community setting including treatment for minor injuries."

Under the proposals the Brecon unit, currently open 24 hours, would be open between 08:00 and 20:00 every day.

A public consultation on proposed changes is open until 8 September.