Harlington, TX, July 19 (AP)—Federal agricultural officials say that the honey bees that killed an 82-year-old rancher last week were the Africanized variety known as "killer bees."
"Our lab has confirmed that the bees are Africanized," said Kim Kaplan, a Spokeswoman for the Federal Department of Agriculture in Greenbelt, MD. Final autopsy results are not yet available, but the pathologist who did the autopsy listed the preliminary cause of death as acute fluid buildup in the lungs caused by insect stings.
If the cause of death is confirmed, the rancher, Lino Lopex, would be the first person killed by Africanized bees in the United States since the aggressive variety migrated into Texas in 1990. Harlington, TX, in South Texas, is about 15 miles from the Mexican border.
Mr. Lopez apparently tried to drive the bees out of a wall in an abandoned house by poking the hive with a stick wrapped with a burning burlap sack. He was dead on arrival at the hospital, with about 40 stingers still attached to his body, officials said.
Fatal cerebral events following insect stings may be due to inappropriate mast cell activation
