Arizona sets new record for African bee sting fatalities in 2013

There was a 4th human fatality today (10-8-13) in Arizona attributed to African honeybee stings.  An undocumented person, gender not known at this time, was found just North of the Arizona/Mexico Border having crossed the US Mexico Border, and reportedly suffered fatal bee stings from an African bee colony inhabiting one of the US Border mile markers.  Very little info was available today about this incident but sources say that the person appeared to be in their early 20s, and in otherwise healthy condition.  African Bees were found inside the victim’s trachea, (wind pipe) and nostrils, with multiple stingers still penetrating the eye- socket area and elsewhere around the face of the victim.

Africanized honeybees were 1st discovered in Arizona on 6-6-1993 after fatally stinging a large 70+ pound dog in Tucson near I-10 and Speedway.  That incident occurred as the dog’s owner was attempting to shampoo the dog on the back porch of the residence.  Thereafter, this sub-species of honeybee has proliferated and has actually become much more genetically pure as feral colonies of European honeybees (once prevalent in Arizona) have been decimated by 2 parasitic mites to which Africanized and African bees are not susceptible.

Thomas Martin