By Matt Kelley (Radio Iowa)

Flowers in gardens across Iowa are drying up and natural food sources are dwindling for pollinators, which means stinging insects are foraging for food in other areas, and any perceived act of aggression could lead to a painful encounter.

Dr. Eric Schauberger, an allergy physician at Emplify Health by Gundersen, says they’re seeing more stings from bees, wasps, hornets and other flying insects as we get further into October.

“There’s two things that are happening. One is, this is peak hive season right now. The hives have expanded throughout the warmer seasons and they tend to peak in the late summer and fall,” Schauberger says. “The other thing that’s happening is that they’re starting to forage more because they’re starting to get hungry and there’s food scarcity.”

As the insects’ regular food sources are disappearing, they may be buzzing closer to humans than we’d prefer.

“They do seem to be more aggressive this year,” he says. “I don’t know exactly why that would be, but I mean, my kids are telling me there’s a hive at school next to the door and it’s bothersome.”

People tend to lump all stinging insects into the bee category, but Schauberger says the majority of Iowans who get stung aren’t stung by bees, even though there are many different types of bees, including bumblebees, sweatbees and honeybees.

“Most people actually are usually not stung by honeybees. Honeybees you have to really provoke to get them to sting. For the most part, most of the problem stinging insects are going to be wasps, hornets, and yellowjackets,” he says. “Those are the ones that seem to be a bigger problem. They’re also the ones that tend to be ground nesting, or they sneak into your soda can or something like that.”

Being stung by a bee -can- be life-threatening, and Schauberger says what’s known as anaphylaxis is the most severe type of allergic reaction.

“If they have a history of severe reaction, enough that they had anaphylaxis — they needed epinephrine, those patients are good candidates for allergy immunotherapy. We call it venom immunotherapy, the allergy shots to what you’re allergic to,” he says. “In that case, the shots would actually be very helpful at reducing the risk of death to stinging insects.”

Only about five-percent of Iowans have a serious bee sting allergy which might require them to carry an Epi-Pen in case they get stung.

Emplify Health by Gundersen has clinics in Calmar, Decorah, Fayette, Lansing, Postville and Waukon, and a hospital in West Union.