Fear of wasps

The fear of wasps, or of wasp stings, is technically known as spheksophobia and is described as a relatively common type of specific phobia. It is similar to the fear of bees, which is often called apiphobia or melissophobia, and both belong to entomophobia, the fear of insects, which is itself a category of zoophobia, the fear of animals. The source explains that people with this fear react strongly to the wasp because of its ability to use its stinger and inject venom, and because it is unpredictable where a wasp will fly to. In the Medicine Atlas the entry records the phobia as a named, recognized anxiety condition and places it among the specific phobias of animals, without offering any medical advice.