In the second episode of the second season of The Bridgerton we have known as flash back to the only one of the Bridgertons that we had not yet put a face to, the father of the family, Edmund. The memory that most torments his eldest son, Anthony, is the moment of his death, due to the bee sting. This new season of the Netflix series is set in the year 1814a time when nothing was yet known about the anaphylactic shock. Also, this death occurred 10 years earlier. That is why it was almost incomprehensible that a simple insect could end the life of a man. But could it have been saved? Edmund Bridgerton if you were living today and knew you had an allergy to bee stings?
Perhaps the mere fact of knowing what was happening to him could have helped save his life. Or maybe not. Ultimately, a anaphylactic shock it is something that happens so fast that there is not always time to react. People who know they have a serious allergy can – and should – always carry an injection of epinephrine. But if it is the first encounter with the cause of the allergy, they could be unprepared
Furthermore, Edmund Bridgerton’s attack did not occur in London, but in his country house. Perhaps even now there wouldn’t have been time to get him to a hospital or for an ambulance to arrive to attend to him. There are many factors that influence, so it is best to break them down little by little.
History of anaphylactic shock
Following the bee sting, Edmund Bridgerton experienced a extremely severe allergic reaction, which ended up causing his death. This is what is known as anaphylactic shock.
It was discovered in 1901when the physician Charles Richet and the zoologist Paul Portier were trying to immunize a group of dogs against the poison of the sea anemone. The goal was to expose them to small doses of the poison until they tolerated it. It is something that is done today with some allergies, although with greater knowledge about them and in a much more controlled way. In their case, they simply hoped that exposure would serve as prophylaxis for developing a antiserum to help swimmers who were affected by contact with these marine animals.
However, in some dogs the opposite effect occurred, as they ended up experiencing an even more severe reaction than normal. They called what happened anaphylaxissince in Greek Ana– it means against and phylaxis It translates as protection. From the term anaphylaxis came later that of anaphylactic shock. We are therefore talking about almost a century after the time that is represented in the Netflix series. That is why Anthony Bridgerton did not understand what was happening to his father when he began to have difficulty breathing after the bee sting. Now, let’s imagine that he had known what was happening to him. Could he have been saved?
The bee could have killed him anyway.
“An anaphylaxis is a severe and sudden onset reaction,” he tells hypertextual HGU allergist Gregorio Marañón Alberto Alvarez-Perea. “Generally, it starts in minutes and the vast majority within one hour of exposure to the allergen”.
In the series it is seen that Edmund Bridgerton begins to experience the symptoms immediately after the Bee sting. We might think that it is an exaggeration of the series, but the truth is that it can happen in severe cases. “The most frequent is that it has a progressive appearance, starting with milder symptoms, which worsen until reaching anaphylactic shock,” says Álvarez-Perea. “However, the anaphylaxis that most frequently produces death are precisely those of very fast installationBecause they don’t give you time to react.
The allergist insists that, fortunately, these are very, very rare cases. But it is true that, when they occur, it can be practically impossible to arrive on time. It doesn’t matter that we are in the 21st century and with a hospital nearby. He could course too fast.
In another order of things, the Bridgerton family was in their country house when it all happened. There might be a hospital relatively close today. But would the ambulance arrive in time? Precisely for this reason they are beginning to develop robots and drones capable of covering in a couple of minutes the space for which an ambulance would need much more time. Some have already been used to carry organs for transplants from one hospital to another. However, it is proposed to also make devices capable of carrying the necessary equipment to attend, for example, a heart attack and connect the people who are next to the patient with an experienced doctor who guides their movements. This is the future right now, so much more the future of an era like the one depicted in the Netflix series.
Allergies in the days of the Bridgertons
That anaphylactic shock was not known before 1901 does not mean that it did not occur. In fact, over time it has been known that some medical cases that were then a mystery today could be explained by this extreme allergic reaction. “There are historical events that, a posteriori, could be identified as deaths due to anaphylaxis ”, explains the allergist consulted by this means. “The current interpretation is that until the end of the 19th century, allergies were very rare and, therefore, anaphylaxis were occasional events. With the increased prevalence of allergies, they have become much more common.”
This is something interesting and it is that today there are many more cases of allergies than in the past. What can it be due to? It is not clear, although there are some hypotheses.
Both most studied They are the “hygiene hypothesis” and the “old friends” hypothesis. Both are related, since they refer to the fact that in the past our immune system was in much more frequent contact with certain microorganisms that they trained our immune system against certain infections.
Some of them, known as old friendsthey were on the ground or in the water, so contact through food was continuous. However, hygiene, sanitation and food safety measures broke this transfer of microorganisms. This is not negative, as many dangerous infections were also avoided. However, it was able to bring about changes in the immune system, which would end up rebelling against what should notas is the case with allergies or autoimmune diseases.
Even so, Álvarez-Perea reminds us that other factors, such as pollution, dietary changes or abandonment of the rural environment.
Be that as it may, what is clear is that at the time of the Bridgertons there were not so many cases of allergy and, therefore, it was much rarer for an allergy to occur. anaphylactic shock. But rare does not mean impossible, so no, what happens to the father of the family is not an exaggeration of fiction. Unlikely, but it could have happened, both then and today.