THE mayor of a Montreal bedroom community who was enjoying a weekend in the country has died of anaphylactic shock after wasps attacked her with repeated stings.

    Lucie F. Roussel, the mayor of La Prairie, was near her cottage in the Eastern Townships on Sunday when she stepped on a wasps’ nest, and was stung repeatedly. A friend said she suffered at least 15 stings. Roussel, 51, was transported from her cottage near Stratford to hospital in Thetford Mines, Quebec, where she was pronounced dead.

    Colleagues on city council in the community just west of Montreal and other friends said they were not aware she suffered from allergies. But a neighbor in Stratford said she was indeed allergic to venom from bee and wasp stings but did not have an epinephrine injector with her to counteract anaphylactic shock.

    Deaths from venomous insect stings are very rare in Canada.

    Forty people died from bee, wasp or hornet venom in Canada during a 12-year stretch ending in 2011, the most recent period for which national numbers are available from Statistics Canada.

    The annual death toll ranged from a high of seven in 2009 to a low of one death in each of 2006 and 2011. An average of 3.3 Canadians died from stings each year. By comparison, about 10 Canadians die from being struck by lightning each summer, according to Environment Canada. (SD-Agencies)