Bees That Stung Woman Were Domestic
Genetic tests showed it was domestic, not Africanized, honeybees that attacked a 77-year-old Lake Forest woman who was hospitalized for a week earlier this month after she was stung hundreds of times.
Nick Nisson, entomologist at the Orange County agricultural commissioner’s office, said DNA tests showed the bees that attacked Jackie Wright were a hybrid of a species that originated in Egypt.
“This hybrid has been around here for over a century,” Nisson said.
Africanized bees can be extremely belligerent and, in some cases, kill humans and animals when provoked.
Wright, a resident of Freedom Village, an apartment complex for seniors, was sitting in the garden Oct. 1 when workers removed a side panel from a building at the complex, disturbing a colony of bees.
The bees swarmed around Wright and began stinging her as she ran to the driveway. Orange County Fire Authority officials said that paramedics found hundreds of bees flying around Wright when they arrived. It was estimated that she was stung between 300 and 500 times.
She was transported to Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills, where she was treated for an allergic reaction until her release Oct. 9.
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