To Bee-Line readers
 
July 29, 1993
 
Antidote for Africanized bee stings, another contribu-
tion from the champions of self-abnegation, beekeepers.
 
As a free lance science writer, I got a press release
today from the University of Arizona.  Their College of
Medicine claims that a doctor (Michael Schumacher MD,
an allergist) and a researcher at BioSeparations (Ned
Egen) have taken the first step toward a substance to
neutralize bee stings by Africanized bees.  To sum-
marize, they first found that ounce per ounce the Euro-
pean and African venom was equally potent, in fact
identical.  Then they drew blood from beekeepers who
are stung routinely and so have antibodies, isolated
those antibodies, and proved that they reduced venom
toxicity in vitro.  They next ran the same course with
mice.  Now, if someone gives them money, they will go
on to produce the antibody in industrial quantities via
tissue culture.  Then they want to test the anti-venom
in humans stung by large numbers of Africanized bees.
 
This was picked up by local media in Tucson, which ap-
parently has a mild panic following a dog fatality from
the killer bees, which I suppose are known to be in
Pima County (?).  I have heard of only one human fatal-
ity in the US so far, but others may know of more--that
was in Texas.
 
Some more information, perhaps, might come from the
University News office, which can be reached via Vern
Lamplot: [log in to unmask]
 
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