Africanized honeybees are found in South, Central and North America. These bees can cause fatalities.
Reasons for lethality:
(1) very aggressive
(2) tendency to swarm in large numbers
When disturbed a swarm of bees can attack the intruder, with the person stung hundreds or thousands of times.
As to the origin of Africanized honeybees:
"At the outset of the 19th century, settlers from Europe brought the Apis mellifera mellifera bees to southern Brazil1. These bees were adapted to the European temperate climate, and upon arriving in Brazil, they presented low production of honey and its derivatives. this led the Brazilian government to implement a program to develop bees that would be more productive and be%er adapted to the tropical climate. thus, in 1956, Apis mellifera scutellata queen bees were brought from Africa to Rio Claro, State of São Paulo, Brazil. It was known at the time that the African bees were more productive and had greater swarming capacity but were much more aggressive. The objective of the project was to crossbreed the European bees already existent in Brazil with the African bees in an attempt to obtain a hybrid with the tameness of the European bees and the productivity of the African. By accident, some African queens escaped and initiated the natural Africanization of the bee group, initially in Brazil and subsequently throughout the Americas."
Clinical features:
(1) pain
(2) local inflammation at sites of stings
(3) nausea and vomiting, diarrhea
(4) tachycardia
(5) mild allergic reaction
Severe attacks may be associated with:
(1) generalized edema
(2) hypotension
(3) rhabdomyolysis
(4) acute renal failure
(5) myocarditis and/or cardiac arrhythmias
(6) centrilobular necrosis of the liver
(7) seizures
(8) respiratory failure
(9) multi-organ failure
A person who is allergic to bees may develop an anaphylactic reaction.
Additional factors associated with poor outcome:
(1) extreme of age
(2) significant comorbidities
(3) failure to remove stingers with attached apparatus or incorrect removal
