'You're going to see stars': What it feels like to be stung by an Asian giant hornet

Missing: One border-jumping murder hornet Washington State officials believe a tagged murder hornet has made its way into B.C.

TORONTO — An American wildlife educator stung by a Japanese giant hornet -- a subspecies of the Asian giant hornet -- said the sting feels like a "red hot fire poker" being shoved into the skin with the pain lasting for hours.

Coyote Peterson, who was stung by a giant hornet in Japan, in October 2018, told CTVNews.ca that he felt the pain instantly.

"It's a neurotoxic venom that the giant hornet contains and that attacks your nervous system immediately," Peterson said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. "It feels like a red hot fire poker that's been sitting in the embers and it's been shoved into your arm, and you can't remove it and that pain doesn't just hit you for a couple of seconds and go away, it actually escalates."

Peterson compared the dizziness he felt after being stung by a giant hornet to what he imagines a punch from professional boxer Mike Tyson would feel like.

"You're going to see stars and essentially blackout for the most part, and that's what happened. I stumbled backwards, I could barely even say words at that point. It was immediate searing pain," Peterson said.

Peterson documented the experience in a video posted to his YouTube channel "Brave Wilderness" on Nov. 23, 2018.

Peterson says he wanted to be stung by the giant hornet "to leave no sting untested."

Peterson has been working his way through the Schmidt Sting Pain Index -- a scale rating of the relative pain caused by different insect stings, created by entomologist Justin Schmidt.

In a move to create his own pain index via YouTube, Peterson also seeks out stings from insects Schmidt did not test -- including the Asian giant hornet.

"On a scale of one to four, which is how insect stings are ranked, I’d say the giant hornet is a four for sure. It is at the top tier of insect stings, but it is not more damaging than the sting of an executioner wasp and that all has to do with the proteins and peptides that exist within the venom," Peterson said.

The invasive Asian giant hornets -- also known as "murder hornets" -- have been previously spotted in British Columbia and most recently in the U.S. in Washington state.

While the Asian giant hornet is known for killing honeybees, experts say the hornets can kill humans if stung multiple times.

But Peterson said that did not deter him.

"I wasn't necessarily scared… But once you actually have that insect in the forceps you're holding and you're getting ready to put it to your arm yes, it's definitely pretty nerve wracking," Peterson said.

"I was in pretty much unbearable pain for somewhere between six and eight hours.... I almost couldn't sit still it was so painful. The next day, my arm had swollen to nearly twice its normal size as well as my hand. That pain was still there but it was a residual pain."

Peterson said the pain and swelling lasted for approximately 36 hours. He took Benadryl for the swelling but said it did not help. He added that his arm was itchy for several days after being stung, which he says is common with insect bites.

"There's definitely no anti-venom or anything like that you could take for a sting. You pretty much just have to endure through the pain," Peterson said.

Peterson says he has a "resilience towards insect venom" but had an epinephrine pen on hand and a team of entomologists behind the camera in case something went wrong. Peterson said if someone has an allergic reaction to the hornet’s venom, it would likely kill them.

"If anyone else would ever be stung by something like this, our recommendation is that you always seek medical attention, especially if you feel like your body is having an obscure reaction to the experience that you're going through," Peterson said.

However, Peterson said people in North America do not need to be concerned about getting stung by an Asian giant hornet. He said the recent attention the insect is getting has been "blown out of proportion."

"There's not going to be an outbreak of these things. You have to remember the pictures floating around on the internet are of dead hornets, which aren't going to hurt anybody," Peterson said.

"The whole hype that's happening right now about giant hornets invading on the heels of the coronavirus, it's completely absurd and it's certainly not something people need to be afraid of."