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orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-killerbees1208apr12,0,6034185.story
OrlandoSentinel.com
'Killer bees' are blamed in death of Florida man
Early tests indicate Florida's first human victim wasswarmed by the Africanized insects.
Willoughby Mariano
Sentinel Staff Writer
April 12, 2008
So-called killer bees may have claimed their first human victim in Florida, state officials said Friday in announcing
a fatal attack earlier this week in remote Okeechobee County.
The victim, whose identity was not released, suffered more than 100 stings Wednesday when he was swarmed while trying
to demolish a trailer. Rescuers attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation for 40 minutes and placed the man on life support,
but he died of a severe allergic reaction.
Early lab results indicate that the insects were Africanized honeybees, the fiercer strain of bee that is displacing familiar
European honeybees across the nation. These recent arrivals, which can be found throughout Central and South Florida, already
have been linked to livestock and pet deaths.
"We knew it was just probably a matter of time before someone would succumb to an allergic reaction," said Denise
Feiber, a spokeswoman with the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
State agriculture officials have been bracing for a deadly bee attack since the first sightings of the insect at ports
in the Tampa and Fort Lauderdale areas in 2002. The bellicose bees began to establish inland colonies in 2005 and now have
been seen in all counties south of Marion.
Their arrival prompted a statewide awareness campaign that launched in 2006. With help from the motto "Bee aware.
Look, listen and run," beekeepers and state agencies have taught 4.5 million people about the dangers posed by the insects.
Africanized bees carry the same venom as their European cousins, said William Kern Jr., an entomologist at the University
of Florida's Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, which is working with the state Department of Agriculture to combat
the aggressive subspecies.
What makes the Africanized insect notorious as a "killer" is its behavior.
The European bee marks its victim with a special pheromone when it attacks, rallying its comrades for help.
Although Africanized bees release the same pheromone, they swarm and attack in larger numbers and with far more gusto
than their European cousins, Kern said.
What's worse is that the Africanized subspecies colonizes in places the European bees don't, which increases the chances
of people having a painful encounter with the aggressive insect.
"They'll be in your water-meter box, your mailbox, an upside-down flowerpot in your backyard," Kern said.
It typically takes five to 10 stings per pound of body weight for either type of bee to inject enough venom to kill an
adult, Kern said. For a person who is allergic, however, a single sting can be fatal.
So far, human fatalities from attacks of Africanized bees have been rare -- 17 documented since the bees first appeared
in the United States in south Texas in 1990.
Agriculture officials warn homeowners and others to hire professionals to remove bee colonies.
A day after the deadly attack 100 miles south of Orlando, an agricultural agency worker went to the site with fire-and-rescue
personnel and collected bee carcasses to identify whether the attackers were European or Africanized bees.
Measurements of their body parts show that there is a "high probability" that Africanized bees were involved
in Wednesday's deadly swarm, Kern said.
The bee colony was destroyed.
Willoughby Mariano can be reached at wmariano@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5171.
Copyright © 2008, Orlando Sentinel
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