The man called emergency services in Phoenix on Saturday because his injuries prevented him from continuing his descent from Lookout Mountain. Rescue teams dispatched a helicopter and hoisted him from the mountain before transferring him to an ambulance to bring him to the hospital. Emergency service officials say the unnamed victim is in critical condition.
The Phoenix Fire Department has advised people to avoid disturbing hives, wear light-colored clothing, and not use scented products when hiking. Anyone who encounters a swarm is advised to run away quickly and protect their head, face, and especially mouth. Bees are very common on Lookout Mountain and are frequently encountered by hikers.
Almost all wild bees in Arizona are Africanized honey bees, which are highly protective of their hives and commonly known as 'killer bees' for their aggression. Africanized honey bees are a hybrid of the African honey bee and various European honey bee subspecies. They were accidentally released in Brazil in the 1950s after a geneticist had been crossbreeding the different subspecies in an effort to improve the country's honey yields.
The geneticist, Dr. Warwick E Kerr, was intending to combine the European bees' greater capacity for honey production with the African honeybees' adaptation to warmer climates. However, he also isolated the African subspecies aggression and ability to deploy coordinated defensive manoeuvres.
According to the Centre for Invasive Species Research, they have spread as far south as Argentina and are only found in the Americas. Dr. Frank Loveccino, a professor at Arizona State University, said the venom from repeated bee stings effectively 'crushes your muscle'.
He told FOX 10 it is not uncommon for someone to be stung hundreds of times in a single incident. Bee activity has been especially high recently due to an unusually warm winter, with this being just the latest in a string of incidents. Last week, five people were stung, of which one was taken to the hospital, after a swarm disrupted a women's lacrosse game at a university sports field in Tempe.
In a related incident, a California hiker was airlifted to the hospital after being stung by fire ants on a trail. The Montecito Fire Department and Santa Barbara County Search and Rescue rushed to help the injured woman Tuesday morning at the West Fork of the Cold Springs Trail. She had suffered an allergic reaction after coming into contact with fire ants, Montecito Fire wrote in a Facebook post.
A Santa Barbara County helicopter found the hiker before firefighters could reach her on foot, and a rescuer was lowered to hoist her out, according to authorities. The fire department said she was flown to the hospital for further medical treatment. The hiker's current condition is not clear.
The Cleveland Clinic warns that, while it's rare, fire ant bites can cause life-threatening reactions. The painful, itchy bites are usually found on a person's legs and feet, according to experts. A fire ant is a red-tinged insect, according to the medical center, and its size ranges from about 1 millimeter, or about the tip of a pencil, to 5 mm, around the size of a pencil eraser.
It has six legs and two pinching mandibles that protrude from its head, and it has a pouch of venom and a stinger on its rear end. The Cleveland Clinic explains that a person usually gets bitten by a fire ant when they step on the ground where the bugs live, and their skin is exposed. Fire ant bites first cause a burning or stinging sensation, followed by itchy bumps or welts that eventually turn into blisters, experts say.
These blisters usually clear up in about a week. Experts warn that in severe cases, they may even lose consciousness or go into cardiac arrest. ' The identity and exact medical condition of both hikers remain unknown, as do the specific causes of high bee activity beyond the warm winter and the exact location of the fire ant colony.