Guy Jacobucci died from an allergy he didn’t even know he had.
The well-liked insurance executive and former restaurateur was watering his garden Sunday afternoon when an insect stung him. Within minutes, his family said, he started to have trouble breathing and called 911.
Though Jacobucci, 49, received emergency treatment at his Palatine-area home, he died of what the Cook County medical examiner determined to be an anaphylactic reaction to a bee sting.
Such deaths happen about 100 times in the U.S. each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and medical experts say they can be unpredictable, striking people like Jacobucci who have no apparent allergy.
“That’s why it’s so scary: It happens so quick,” said Dr. Joseph Colla, an emergency room doctor at Chicago’s University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System who carries an epinephrine pen even though he’s never had an allergic reaction to a sting.
Anaphylaxis happens when the introduction of an allergen — anything from peanuts to latex — causes the body’s immune system to go haywire, releasing chemicals that cause blood pressure to drop and tiny passageways in the lungs to clamp up.
What’s tricky about insect venom, Colla said, is that a person can have been stung in the past with no apparent problems, but over time the body can become more sensitive to the venom, making further stings much more dangerous.
Another complication is that not all insect venoms can produce the same effect in a person, he said. Someone might be deathly allergic to the sting of a paper wasp while being able to tolerate the sting of a honeybee.
“Sometimes, you’ll be more allergic to one of those families compared to the others,” he said. “You’ll have a little bit of a reaction to one, then you get stung by the one you’re really allergic to and your body goes nuts.”
Dr. Jeffrey Demain, a fellow with the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology who works in Alaska, said 0.4 percent to 4 percent of people are allergic to some type of insect venom. The risk can increase in people who are older, or who are taking beta blockers or other medications, he said.
He said that if people have a worrying reaction to a sting, a specialist can figure out the type of insect to which they are allergic, and then give them small but gradually increasing doses of the venom. After three to five years of monthly shots, he said, their immune systems will no longer produce an allergic reaction if they are stung.
Less elaborate presentative measures including carrying an epi pen — epinephrine, a prescription medication, relaxes airway muscles and tightens blood vessels — along with avoiding stinging insects and “trying not to look or smell like a flower” with bright colors and perfumes, Demain said.
Jacobucci’s sister, Rose Gadzinski, said he had been stung by bees before without any troublesome reaction. While the medical examiner initially ruled that the fatal venom came from a bee sting, she said further tests will be done to confirm that.
Jacobucci was not aware that he was allergic to any insect, she said.
“My brother was so healthy at all times,” she said. “If he knew, he would have had (an epi pen). He took care of himself like you wouldn’t believe.”
Friends and business associates described Jacobucci as an outgoing man and talented chef who once owned a restaurant. Gadzinski said her brother also enjoyed gardening, biking and traveling.
She said Jacobucci’s death should persuade others to take the threat of insect stings more seriously. It’s already had that effect on her.
“I’m allergic to wasps,” she said. “I don’t carry an epi pen, but I’m going to get one.”
Tribune’s Rosemary Regina Sobol contributed.
Twitter @JohnKeilman
