Apitherapy is the medicinal use of products made by honeybees. Products of the honeybee include bee venom, honey, pollen, royal jelly, propolis, and beeswax. Use of honey and other bee products can be traced back thousands of years. Their healing properties are included in many religious texts. Hippocrates recognized the healing virtues of bee venom for treating arthritis and other joint problems. Today, growing scientific evidence suggests that various bee products promote healing by improving circulation, decreasing inflammation, and stimulating a healthy immune response. A wide variety of conditions and diseases have been suggested as candidates for apitherapy, the most well-known being Bee Venom Therapy (BVT) for autoimmune diseases and multiple sclerosis, arthritis, wounds, pain, gout, shingles, burns, tendonitis, and infections. The most abundant active component of the venom is melittin, which has a powerful anti-inflammatory action. There is no standardized practice for the administration of bee venom. Some purport that the location of the sting is important, with the sting acting as a sort of acupuncture in combination with the effects of the venom, while others report the location is not important. The number of stings also varies widely from a few to hundreds and they may be administered either by live bees or by injection. This treatment can cause pain, and even result in death if the subject has an allergy to bee venom which can produce anaphylactic shock. The medical efficacy of bee hive product treatments (apitherapy) has not been approved by medical specialists yet. Some researchers are able to show results in the studies of BVT therapeutic effects using mice. However, studies in people have not been reported in the available medical literature.

Научный руководитель: старший преподаватель Юрова И.Ю. В настоящее время исследование проблемы нетрадиционной медицины становится все более актуальным. Альтернативные методы лечения не получили всеобщего признания у врачей и международных медицинских организаций, но тем не менее активно используются во всем мире. Одним из таких альтернативных методов является апитерапия. Апитерапия лечебное применение продуктов пчеловодства. Основными продуктами, используемыми в апитерапии, являются пчелиный яд, мед, цветочная пыльца, маточное молочко, прополис и пчелиный воск. Апитерапия используется в лечении аутоиммунных заболеваний и рассеянного склероза, артрита, ран, подагре, ожогах, тендинитах и инфекциях. При этом надо отметить, что эффективность апитерапии научно не доказана. Отдельные эксперименты проводятся лишь на мышах. Результаты, по оценкам ученых, положительные.