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The Sting II:
Africanized Honeybee By John Albright,
Biologist - Public Information Specialist at Shasta Mosquito and Vector Control District When I wrote the first article in this series, the Africanized
honeybee (AHB) seemed like a distant semi-abstract problem that was affecting
people that we would probably never meet. The freak occurrence of a swarm near
Orland on October 31, 1997 brought the problem uncomfortably close to home. It
was interesting, following the news reports about the AHB incident, that the
Shasta Mosquito and Vector Control District office was not flooded with calls
for information on the subject. We hope that residents within the Shasta
Mosquito and Vector Control District realize that we have a wealth of
information on the subject of AHB at our office. We are currently working
cooperatively with the Shasta County Department of Agriculture and other
concerned agencies and organizations on the development of an Africanized
Honeybee Action Plan for Shasta County. Residents of the district with
questions, concerns or suggestions regarding the plan are encouraged to call the
Shasta Mosquito and Vector Control District office and talk with our biologist
(me). There are a couple of different ways in which AHB may enter an
area and create problems for the residents and their associated pets and
livestock. The incident near Orland provides a good example of the sort of
encounters with AHB which are most likely to occur in the Shasta County area, if
we have any problems with these pesky intruders in the near future. The bees
which were involved in the incident hitchhiked into Glenn County in a hollow
area within some heavy machinery parts that were shipped to the site from
Maricopa County, Arizona. Africanized honeybees are well established in Arizona.
Since AHB will use almost any type of space to set up housekeeping, it is likely
that they will continue to hitchhike on shipments from Arizona and other areas
where they are common to areas like Shasta County where they are quite
unexpected. In fact there is already a history of AHB showing up in various
shipping ports around the U.S. on ships from infested areas of Central and South
America. These sorts of isolated incidents are usually pretty easy to deal with.
Destruction of the offending swarm or hive usually ends the problem. Encounters which occur as a result of the natural migration
and establishment of AHB in the U.S. are of much greater concern to public
health and safety agencies, and people with agricultural interests. Currently
portions of Imperial, Riverside, and San Diego Counties are the only areas in
California dealing with this problem so far. An encounter with AHB near these
areas usually indicates that there are more AHB hives in the vicinity, and the
problem will probably get worse as time goes on. The region of California that
is experiencing this problem has been gradually expanding since the first
discovery of a naturally migrating swarm in the state in 1994 near Blythe. One
of the things that makes this migration so interesting is that the most
important questions regarding the outcome cannot be answered. Nobody knows how
far they will migrate and become established. In South America their area of
migration has been limited by their inability to adapt to cold climates. We know that AHB is warm weather sub-species, and do not store
honey to feed themselves through the winter the way European honeybees do. We
also know that they have been interbreeding with European honeybees for some
time now. This may effect their behavior in a number of unpredictable ways. It
may or may not make them more cold tolerant. It may or may not make them more
gentle. In any case most scientific types think that eventually there will be an
imaginary line running through California related to climate. North and up slope
from this line the feral (wild) honeybees will behave more like European
honeybees. South and down slope from this line the feral bees will be more
Africanized. It is hoped that commercial beekeepers will be able to continue
using bees that derive from purely European hemolymph (bee-blood) lines. There
are other poorly understood factors such as the resistance to disease and
infestation by mites that will affect how well AHB becomes established in
California. That is a whole different article that I currently don't plan to
write. It is important to remember that Africanized honeybees do not
look significantly different from European honeybees. They act quite
differently, however. "What constitutes strange honeybee behavior?"
you may ask. Clues that might indicate that a hive is Africanized might include
odd locations for hives (such as exposed on tree limbs or cliffs or in animal
burrows), aggression and stinging without apparent provocation, stinging by
excessively large numbers of honeybees, and pursuit by the honeybees for long
distances away from the hive. If you are being stung, run away from the location
and seek shelter in a tightly enclosed area like a house or vehicle. Do not wave
your arms and swat at the bees. All that commotion will only serve to get them
more agitated. If you can't find shelter, continue running away. A person can
outrun honeybees, and eventually they will quit following, though Africanized
bees will follow for long distances. Jumping into water is a bad idea unless you
have gills. Africanized honeybees will continue to defend the area and will
sting when you surface for air. Single bee stings by AHB are no more dangerous than bee stings
by European honeybees. Africanized and European bees lose their stingers and die
when they sting. The victim in an AHB stinging attack will likely be stung by
many more bees than a victim stung by European honeybees. Stingers should be
promptly removed by scraping them out with a card or fingernail. Squeezing
stingers injects more venom into the victim. People with allergies to bee stings
may have severe and life-threatening reactions to a single sting but most people
can survive quite a few stings (though very few actually enjoy them). Five
hundred or more stings present a life-threatening situation and are far more
likely to occur in a run-in with AHB than with European bees. In any situation
involving multiple stings emergency services (911) should be contacted.
Africanized honeybees may stay agitated for an hour or more and threaten people
and animals over quite a large distance. There are a couple of agencies to call if you see weird bee
behavior that is not life threatening. The Shasta County Department of
Agriculture (530-224-4949) enforces ordinances related to beekeeping and has a
lot of information and expertise in this area. They also have access to the
means necessary for testing honeybees to see if they are Africanized.
Africanized honeybees fall under the very broad heading of vectors (insects and
animals capable of transmitting disease and other health problems to humans)
under guidelines established by the Department of Health Services. For this
reason the Shasta Mosquito and Vector Control District has a large amount of
information on hand regarding this pest. We also have personnel on hand with a
lot of knowledge, experience and training related to honeybees and other
stinging, and biting insects. For further information call us at (530)365-7878
or check out our web site at Shasta MVCD Home Page.
To see an article I wrote on the history and importance of the AHB
problem click on this link. For More Information:
(530) 365-3768 For Brochures about AHB and other vector-related subjects follow this link.
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