Re: Killer Bee Attacks

[Guest guest]

Gene, et al,

Having suffered through the biannual & #34;robbing of

the honey bees & #34; on the farm, I know a little about

bees and their behavior. European Honey Bees (EHB),

the ones we here in The States are most accustomed to,

are domesticated and generally docile creatures.

Africanized Honey Bees (AHB) can be docile, but once

provoked will fiercely defend the hive. Attacks may

be provoked by loud noises, scents, or simply by being

too close. The reference articles previously posted

about this thread are good reading and provide insight

on this subject.

Differentiation between the two types is nearly

impossible in the field. The test used by the various

government agencies is called the & #34;Universal

System for Detecting Africanization (USDA-ID) & #34;.

It is a set of 26 separate tests that once compiled

and compared determines if the colony is Africanized.

One & #34;trick of the trade & #34; is to measure the

forewing of at least 10 bees in a colony and get an

average length. If the average is & lt; 3/8 & #34; the

swarm is Africanized and if it is & gt; 3/8 & #34; the

swarm is European.

My recommendations:

If the patient(s) can be accessed by auto:

Treatment crew should be staged 1/2 - 1 mile away.

Two firefighters in complete bunker gear (mask line,

neck line, arm cuffs, and leg cuffs sealed with duct

tape) and SCBA should ride in the back of a pickup

truck or other operator enclosed vehicle that can

access the scene. They should have a blanket to cover

the victim and help reduce the number of additional

stings the victim receives. Vehicle operator should

be in an enclosed compartment and should not, under

any circumstances, exit the vehicle until in the

clear. Drive to the victim quickly, firefighters wrap

the victim completely with the blanket, & #34;Load

& amp; Go & #34;. Quickly exit the scene of the swarm

and get to safer ground. Some bees will follow, but

with a quick exit, very few if any should stick with

you over 200 - 300 yards. Stop short of the treatment

crew and unwrap the victim. Some living and flying

bees will remain inside the blanket. These can be

dealt with via gloved hands and killed. The number of

bees under the blanket is far less than the number of

bees that could access and sting the patient without

it. Treatment crew should be prepared for possible

stings also. If ANYONE is allergic to bee stings they

should not be part of this operation AT ALL.

If the patient(s) can not be accessed by auto:

Treatment crew should be staged 1/2 - 1 mile away.

Two firefighters in complete bunker gear (mask line,

neck line, arm cuffs, and leg cuffs sealed with duct

tape) and SCBA should ride in the back of a pickup

truck or other operator enclosed vehicle and get as

close to the victim as possible. They should have a

blanket to cover the victim and help reduce the number

of additional stings the victim receives. Vehicle

operator should be in an enclosed compartment and

should not, under any circumstances, exit the vehicle

until in the clear. Drive as close to the victim as

possible, firefighters exit vehicle, travel to the

victim on foot and wrap the victim completely with the

blanket, travel quickly back to the vehicle on foot,

& #34;Load & amp; Go & #34;. Quickly exit the scene of

the swarm and get to safer ground. Some bees will

follow, but with a quick exit, very few if any should

stick with you over 200 - 300 yards. Stop short of

the treatment crew and unwrap the victim. Some living

and flying bees will remain inside the blanket. These

can be dealt with via gloved hands and killed. The

number of bees under the blanket is far less than the

number of bees that could access and sting the patient

without it. Treatment crew should be prepared for

possible stings also. If ANYONE is allergic to bee

stings they should not be part of this operation AT

ALL.

The key to this operation is quickly getting the

victim out of harms way. Foam can be used, but this

can be time consuming to set up and deploy. It's also

expensive if you are using AFFF, and not always

necessary. Dish soap & #34;foam & #34; will work also.

Many departments add & #34;Joy & #34; or & #34;Dawn & #34;

to their tanks, and this should be sufficient. Foam

inhibits the bees ability to fly as well as to

breathe. It's not really the foaminess of the foam

that aids as much as the surficant action, so high

volume expanders are not needed to do this job, a fog

nozzle will do just fine. If you have it readily

available on your trucks use it. I would not take

time to set up an eductor on a ground line, but having

a foam tank and a piped system available when you

arrive on scene will be fine. Remember, this just

takes away their wings, they can still crawl, as

mentioned in one of the previously cited articles.

I've never had to do a rescue from an AHB colony, but

have had several cases with hornets, bumble bees, and

etc. Load and GO seems to always work, and is one of

several recommended methods for AHB's. Remember; bees

sting the head area and armpits first. This is a

defense mechanism. It helps to disorient and confuse

the & #34;attacker & #34;. Make sure your hood and

collar are on properly. Tape your hood to your SCBA

mask.

Removal of the stingers is one of the most important

things. Stingers can continue to inject venom for 1 -

2 hours following the sting. There are several

techniques for removal, but scraping seems to be the

most often cited method. Mashing or squeezing the

stingers may cause them to inject remaining venom into

the victim. A quick assessment of the number of

stings should also be done for an idea as to total

invenomation. Adult LD50 is cited at 5 - 10 stings

per pound of body weight depending on physical

condition, age, and prior stings (tolerance). Most

people use 8 stings as a median. So, a 200 pound

person with 1600 stings has a 50 / 50 chance of

survival. This sounds like a lot of stings but it

really isn't considering most hives contain 20,000 -

60,000 workers. O2, Benadryl, and Epi should be ready

once the victim reaches the treatment crew. Transport

to the nearest hospital ASAP. Any patient with & gt;10

stings should be assessed by a physician. Even when

robbing bees and someone manages to mess up out in the

field, this is good advice.

E. Tate, LP

Tyler, Texas

P.S. Honey is the only & #34;food product & #34; that

will not spoil.

--- wegandy@... wrote:

& gt; ,

& gt;

& gt; Thanks for the input. I agree with meat

tenderizer.

& gt; Also a poultice of

& gt; baking soda works to draw the poison out. And

when

& gt; I was growing up in the

& gt; country, you just slapped your chaw on it and

that

& gt; worked.

& gt;

& gt; But here's where I'm coming from. Foam is fine.

& gt; But it's going to come too

& gt; late to save those who have a severe allergic

& gt; reaction. I'm wanting to know

& gt; about equipping trucks in areas with known

& gt; Africanized bees with bee suits

& gt; and perhaps inventing some sort of canister that

& gt; would dispense enough foam

& gt; to allow a rescue.

& gt;

& gt; In one of the rescues that happened near here,

the

& gt; medics had no choice but

& gt; to talk to the patients over their loudspeaker

and

& gt; tell them to run to the

& gt; ambulance. One made it, and the other was

already

& gt; in respiratory and

& gt; circulatory collapse. By the time they were able

to

& gt; get her into a safe

& gt; place she couldn't be revived.

& gt;

& gt; So, yes, I know about foam, and unless it can be

& gt; deployed immediately it's

& gt; not going to be of lifesaving value.

& gt;

& gt; Any further thoughts?

& gt;

& gt; Gene

& gt;

=====

" It's been said that a firefighter's first act of bravery is taking the oath to

serve. And all of them serve, knowing that one day they may not come home. "

- President Bush

October 7, 2001

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Wear full protective clothing, includinc SCBA, if you don't have bee suits.

We use water extinguishers with large amount of soap added. Spray the bees

with the mixture of soap and water. The soap breaks down the oils on the

bee's wings so they can't fly. they will fall to the ground and eventually

die. This is quick, easy, and cheap. Be sure to collect several of the bees

to send to A & M for eval. Africanized bees can only be identified through

microscopic analysis.

[Guest guest]

full bunker gear and a soap or foam line from a fog hose starting in the cold

zone and backed up by a second line, air pack with face mask helps protect you

from face stings and nomex hood help protect the neck area these areas are the

most vurlnerable and deadly. no fast moves or hand waving or slapping or noise.

even soap from a weeps unit will work on the bees the idea is to get them wet so

they cant fly and it seems the foam covers there breathing sites and cause them

to die. that is our fire department sop for bees.

Deputy Chief

Silsbee EMS

114 hwy 96 south

Silsbee, Tx 77656

Killer Bee Attacks

>

>

> Here in southern Arizona there have been two killer bee

> attacks, one fatal,

> within the last couple of days.

>

> Does anyone have a protocol or SOP for responding to those

> attacks? What

> should an arriving EMS crew do? I am not so interested in

> treatment after

> the patient is secured to a safe place as I am in knowing how

> to handle the

> problems of getting to the patient and keeping from being attacked.

>

> In the fatal attack the victim experienced anaphylaxis after

> having been

> stung at least 80 times. The other 3 individuals are in

> varying states of

> recovery.

>

> Thanks for any help.

>

> Gene Gandy

>

>

>

> Gene Gandy, JD, LP

> 4250 East Aquarius Drive

> Tucson, AZ 85718

> home and fax

> cell

> wegandy@...

>

>

[Guest guest]

actually it is the papaya ( spelling ) that reduces the swelling and

inflammation. it is applied as a wet paste and should be removed with saline if

medical care is not reached in 20 to 30 minutes or localized skin damage could

result.

Silsbee EMS

114 hwy 96 south

Silsbee, Tx 77656

Re: Killer Bee Attacks

AFD has beekeeper suits for use by the companies

who resond to bee swarm incidents. Foaming

works, I believe, because the bees are unable to

breath through the foam.

Having grown up on the Texas Gulf Coast, I can

tell you from experience with jelly fish stings

that meat tenderizer is a nifty home remedy for

the pain associated with stings. However, it's

not the flavoring that helps, it's the monosodium

glutamate (MSG) in the meat tenderizer that does

the trick. The reason i bring this up is because

I don't think all " meat tenderizers " contain MSG,

and also because you can purchase a huge bottle

of generic MSG for the price of a small jar of a

name-brand product.

FYI, you might also look at the active ingedient

in those sting swab products in which you crush

the ampule, soak the included cotton swab, and

swab the sting site. If memory serves, the

active ingredient is something like 97% ammonia

and 3% green food coloring.

stay safe - pr

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

When the Africanized (i.e. killer bees) hit the Austin area a few years

back, I had a chance to talk to County's bee expert about the use of

foam and wet water on the bees. The soap in the additives washes off a

protective water resistant coating on the bees which allows the water to

drown them. Since the engines and brush trucks had foam capabilities, it

made more since to attack with foam lines than with hand sprayers. (If one

gallon is good, 1,000 gallons is better.)

Barry Sharp

Re: Killer Bee Attacks

full bunker gear and a soap or foam line from a fog hose starting in the

cold zone and backed up by a second line, air pack with face mask helps

protect you from face stings and nomex hood help protect the neck area these

areas are the most vurlnerable and deadly. no fast moves or hand waving or

slapping or noise. even soap from a weeps unit will work on the bees the

idea is to get them wet so they cant fly and it seems the foam covers there

breathing sites and cause them to die. that is our fire department sop for

bees.

Deputy Chief

Silsbee EMS

114 hwy 96 south

Silsbee, Tx 77656

Killer Bee Attacks

>

>

> Here in southern Arizona there have been two killer bee

> attacks, one fatal,

> within the last couple of days.

>

> Does anyone have a protocol or SOP for responding to those

> attacks? What

> should an arriving EMS crew do? I am not so interested in

> treatment after

> the patient is secured to a safe place as I am in knowing how

> to handle the

> problems of getting to the patient and keeping from being attacked.

>

> In the fatal attack the victim experienced anaphylaxis after

> having been

> stung at least 80 times. The other 3 individuals are in

> varying states of

> recovery.

>

> Thanks for any help.

>

> Gene Gandy

>

>

>

> Gene Gandy, JD, LP

> 4250 East Aquarius Drive

> Tucson, AZ 85718

> home and fax

> cell

> wegandy@...

>

>