WEBVTT - Mayhem in the Morgue | BUZZ kill 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.960 Today's episode includes information about the death of individuals. If 0:00:03.960 --> 0:00:07.040 this sort of thing upsets you, may suggest you watch 0:00:07.040 --> 0:00:13.000 a movie, maybe something like The Swarm Welcome to Mayhem 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:23.080 in the Morning with their host Doctor Kindle crowns today's 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:28.479 episode Buzzkill. As summer approaches and people are outside more 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:32.240 doing activities in nature, there is an increase in attacks 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:35.840 by stinging insects. You know them all too well. They're 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:40.040 the bees, wasps, hornets, and the dreaded fire ants. These 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:42.879 insects can make a fun summer day turn into a 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:46.680 miserable nightmare, and for some it can result in death. 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:51.360 And today's episode, I'm going to be discussing deaths associated 0:00:51.400 --> 0:00:55.720 with stinging insects, so let's get started. It's interesting. In 0:00:55.760 --> 0:00:59.160 the United States, a significantly greater part of the population 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:02.880 is killed by hornets, wasps, and bees compared to snakes. 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:06.480 For whatever reason, people are more afraid of snakes in 0:01:06.600 --> 0:01:10.119 nature than stinging insects, and when they see a snake 0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:14.440 they run, but a hornet's nest, No, Instead, they hit 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:18.000 it with a stick and film it on TikTok. Statistics 0:01:18.040 --> 0:01:21.280 compiled from the United States spanning the years twenty eleven 0:01:21.360 --> 0:01:24.480 to twenty twenty one showed seven hundred and eighty eight 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:28.680 people were killed by wasps, hornets, or bees, roughly averaging 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:32.800 seventy two per year, compared to only fifty snake desks 0:01:32.880 --> 0:01:37.080 during this time period. Probably everyone I know, including myself, 0:01:37.200 --> 0:01:40.200 has been stung at least once in their lives. For me, 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:44.000 I've been stung multiple times, but the worst time occurred 0:01:44.040 --> 0:01:46.959 when I was around ten. It was late summer and 0:01:47.040 --> 0:01:48.960 my dad was mowing the lawn when he hit the 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:51.639 edge of a yellow jacket's nest that was in the ground. 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:56.040 The yellow jackets quickly came out and swarmed. My Dad 0:01:56.080 --> 0:01:59.520 abandoned the mower, ran inside, and he only got stung twice. 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:02.640 He waited until dark to retrieve the mower and told 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:04.640 my brother and I to avoid this area in the 0:02:04.720 --> 0:02:08.080 yard until winter, because then the yellow jackets would all 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:11.120 die out and it would be safe again. Later in 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:13.000 that week, when my brother and I were alone in 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:15.960 the house as we often were, he said to me 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:18.280 that he had gone hold of a spray that could 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:21.120 kill the yellow jackets, and then he told me you 0:02:21.160 --> 0:02:23.240 can be a hero by going out there and killing 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:25.840 them all. He said to me, Mom and Dad would 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:29.679 be so impressed with that take charge attitude and more 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:32.880 than likely would reward me. I was all for this, 0:02:33.000 --> 0:02:35.720 an opportunity to prove how brave I was and get 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:38.440 a reward. I said, give me the spray I'll do it, 0:02:39.120 --> 0:02:41.639 in which my brother said, if you want to kill 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:44.320 them all, you have to spray deep in the nest 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:47.880 and show no remorse. How do I do that, I asked. 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:51.760 He said, with this, and he produced a large double 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:55.320 headed axe the Forbidden Acts that I had seen many 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:58.520 times in the garage. It looked like a medieval weapon, 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:02.919 and I had been told several times not to touch it. 0:03:03.320 --> 0:03:06.000 And there my brother was holding the axe in front 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:09.320 of me, and he sat first whacked the nest with 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:12.120 this axe, and then started spraying into the gap that 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:15.520 was created. I thought that was easy. Plus I get 0:03:15.520 --> 0:03:18.200 to wheel the axe like a Viking. I told my 0:03:18.280 --> 0:03:21.160 brother I was all for it. He handed me the 0:03:21.200 --> 0:03:23.760 axe and the spray can. The spray can was a 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:26.760 short silver can with remnants of a paper label on it, 0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:31.240 but no information. I didn't think anything about it. I 0:03:31.320 --> 0:03:33.920 marched out of the house with my weapons axe in 0:03:33.960 --> 0:03:37.120 one hand, spray can in the other. My brother didn't 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:40.240 accompany me, but instead stayed in the house watching from 0:03:40.240 --> 0:03:44.760 a window. In my head, I thought coward. I approached 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:47.640 the area where the nest was placed, the spray can 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:50.400 on the ground, took the axe with both hands and 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:53.880 swung it, striking the nest dead center. I could hear 0:03:53.920 --> 0:03:57.360 the yellow jackets angrily buzzing. I dropped the axe quickly 0:03:57.400 --> 0:03:59.520 and picked up the can and started spraying the first 0:03:59.600 --> 0:04:01.760 yellow ji that came out of the gap that I 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:06.040 had created. I sprayed them down, saturating their wings, causing 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:08.920 them to fall out of the air, but it didn't 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:12.760 kill them. More came streaming out, and I continued frantically 0:04:12.800 --> 0:04:16.080 spraying as they flew through the air. There was just 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:18.640 too many of them, and they were mad, and they 0:04:18.640 --> 0:04:21.120 were definitely on a seek and destroy mission, and their 0:04:21.160 --> 0:04:24.440 target was me. I was stung the first time on 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:27.279 my arm, then another stinging on my shoulder. I realized 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:29.520 the spray wasn't working at this point, and I ran, 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:32.600 dropping the spray can along the way. As I was 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:35.520 running into the house, being stung several more times. I 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:38.520 could see my brother in the window and he was laughing. 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:41.800 When I got into the garage, I brushed the remaining 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:44.760 yellow jackets off of me, and then ran into the house. 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:48.520 I told my brother that spray didn't work, and he said, 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:51.880 of course it didn't, you idiot. It was my old 0:04:52.000 --> 0:04:55.159 right guard, the odoran spray. He then said, you better 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:57.479 not tell mom and dad, because you know you weren't 0:04:57.520 --> 0:05:02.280 supposed to touch that axe had me there. I cleaned up, 0:05:02.440 --> 0:05:04.120 and my brother told me to put ice on the 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:07.440 sting sites. Luckily, I had no reaction to the stings 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:11.200 other than the pain and a little redness. Once again, 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:14.480 I survived yet another one of my brother's great ideas, 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:18.200 and unfortunately that was not the last time I succumbed 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:21.680 to them. I never told my parents what happened, and 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:24.599 after that, every time I smelled the smell of Reichguard 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:27.040 in the middle school locker room, all I could think 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:30.840 of was those stinking yellow jackets and how gullible I was. 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:34.000 Yellow Jackets are part of the order of insects known 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:38.480 as Hymenoptera. Insects in this order are common worldwide. It 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:42.239 is the second largest order of insects, with approximately seventy 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:46.640 families in eighteen thousand species in North America. The only 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:51.080 insect group that is bigger is the order Coleoptera, which 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:54.919 is beetles. All stinging insects belong to this order, and 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:58.119 the stinging insects who were discussing today are in three 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:02.440 main families, and these are Apidae, which are bees, Vespidae, 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:05.840 which are wasps and hornets, and form a Cidae, which 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:08.800 are fire ants. All the members of these families have 0:06:08.920 --> 0:06:11.800 some sort of stinging apparatus at the tip of their abdomen. 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:15.880 The stinger itself is a modified egg laying apparatus, which 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:19.640 means that only the female insects can sting. They puncture 0:06:19.640 --> 0:06:22.640 the skin with the hollow stinger and inject the venom. 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:25.880 The amount of venom injected is different based on the insect. 0:06:26.360 --> 0:06:28.720 The pain caused by the sting has a rating system 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:32.479 which is called the Schmidt pain Index. It was created 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:35.839 by an American entomologist by the name of Justin O. Schmidt. 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:39.760 He documented the varying degrees of pain he experienced from 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:44.039 species of bees, wasps, hornets, and ants. In the course 0:06:44.040 --> 0:06:47.039 of his career, he was stung more than a thousand times. 0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:49.839 He classified the sting pains on a scale of one 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:53.000 to four, with four being the most painful. He also 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:56.400 had very colorful descriptions of the stings for each of 0:06:56.400 --> 0:07:01.039 these insects. For level one, Schmidt described this as very mild, 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:04.520 temporary pain, lasting up to five minutes. One of the 0:07:04.560 --> 0:07:08.240 descriptions of this level was for red fire ants, and 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:13.280 it is as follows, sharp, sudden, mildly alarming, like walking 0:07:13.320 --> 0:07:16.080 across the shag carpet and reaching for the light switch. 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:20.320 Level one insects include fire ants, small bees with a 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:24.560 small stinger, and small wasps. The next level is level two, 0:07:24.680 --> 0:07:27.920 which is moderate pain, lasting up to five to ten minutes. 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:31.040 He describes a honey bee sting at this level as 0:07:31.120 --> 0:07:35.520 burning corrosive, but you can handle it. A flaming matchhead 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:38.520 lands on your arm and it is quenched with lye 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:42.400 and then with sulfuric acid. Insects found in this level 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:46.360 are honey bees, yellow jackets, and bald faced hornets, among others. 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:49.840 Level three lasts longer, up to a half hour, and 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:54.200 it feels far worse. Schmidt describes the pain inflicted by 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:56.640 an insect at this level, known as the velvet ant, 0:07:56.880 --> 0:08:01.560 as explosive, long lasting. You sound in as you scream 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:05.160 hot oil from deep fryar spilling over your entire hand. 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:08.400 Insects in this section include the velvet ant, which I've 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:11.160 only seen here in Texas, as well as the red 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:15.600 paper wasp. For the highest level level four, the pain 0:08:15.680 --> 0:08:18.640 can last up to two hours and can even cause 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:23.080 brief paralysis. One of the descriptions at this level is 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:25.800 from the tarantula hawk, which I have seen here in 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:28.440 Texas when my kids caught one in a mason jar. 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:31.440 When I saw what it was, I made them all 0:08:31.480 --> 0:08:34.719 go into the house, tipped it over, and ran as 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:37.719 fast as I could. Schmidt described the pain from a 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:42.959 transla hawk as blinding, fierce, shockingly electric a running hair 0:08:43.080 --> 0:08:46.560 dryer has just been dropped into your bubble bat. Insects 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:49.480 in this section include the bullet ant, warrior wasp, and, 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:53.040 as I said, the tarantula hawk. Needless to say, these 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:56.640 stings from these insects can be quite painful. It just 0:08:56.720 --> 0:08:59.520 depends on what you run into, and I know I 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:02.360 don't want to be stung by anything above level two. 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:07.359 There are over one million stings per year by hornets, wasps, 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:10.679 and bees in the United States. Fire Ants are in 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:14.000 a category all by themselves because they sting even more 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:17.880 often easily exceeding a million stings per year. There's not 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:20.320 a place you can go anywhere in the United States 0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:22.960 where you can find one of these insects, and more 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:26.640 than two million Americans are allergic to them. Their stings 0:09:26.679 --> 0:09:30.400 account for five hundred thousand emergency room visits per year, 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:35.680 with the majority only being minor reactions. In the United States, 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:39.360 the honey bee causes the most deaths, but fire ants 0:09:39.440 --> 0:09:42.960 cause the most allergic reactions, and this is partially due 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:47.440 to their highly aggressive tendencies and more people running into them. 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:50.960 Stings have a distinct seasonal pattern dictated by the insects 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:55.320 annual life cycle. As spring arrives and the temperatures consistently 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:59.160 get above fifty degrees fahrenheit, the queen emergence from dormancy 0:09:59.360 --> 0:10:03.120 and begins to lay eggs. Summer sees rapid growth of 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:08.320 the colony, Foraging activity and worker populations peak, particularly in July. 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:13.000 New workers take over maintaining the nests and hunting and foraging. 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:18.360 As fall begins, especially in September, the nest reaches maximum size, 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:22.040 Activity becomes more intense, and the insects become more aggressive. 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:25.520 As the resources and foods begin to become more scarce, 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:30.600 and because of this, the insects begin expanding their foraging territory, 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:33.760 looking in trash cans, and that's when they also start 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:37.400 interacting more with human beings and they start hovering around 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:41.120 sugary drinks and things of that nature. By winter, most 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:44.240 of the workers die and the newly fertilized queens go 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:48.000 into hibernation to start the cycle over. So, as you 0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:51.839 can tell, most stings peak in late summer and early fall, 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:55.920 especially through the months of August to October, and the 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:59.920 people stung the most are once again males, because male 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:03.680 do a lot of stupid things. Hey, it's just who 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:09.840 we are. Wow wow. And that brings us to our 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:13.480 first case. He was an eighty one year old obese 0:11:13.520 --> 0:11:16.680 mail He had a history of diabetes that was so 0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:21.360 severe that he had had bilateral below the knee amputations. 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:25.560 He used to love to ride his riding lawnmower, and 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:27.880 he had had it set up so he could still 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:32.000 control it with justice hands. His family said he would 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:36.040 spend all day on it, riding around just enjoying himself 0:11:36.440 --> 0:11:39.760 on their couple of acres of land. On this particular 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:42.840 day in mid September, he was out driving his lawnmower 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:45.840 like he always did. He was actually mowing for once 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:49.240 when he hit an underground nest of some sort of 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:52.880 insect that came out and swarmed him and started attacking 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:56.720 and stinging him. He started driving radically, waving to his 0:11:56.800 --> 0:11:59.720 family in the house for help because he had no 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:03.440 life and he couldn't escape. He drove close to the 0:12:03.440 --> 0:12:06.280 house and went past the window, waving his hands and yelling, 0:12:06.520 --> 0:12:09.200 and his family waved back because they thought he was 0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:12.920 just having a good time. He eventually turned and fell 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:16.679 off his lawnmower. When the family saw that, they realized 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:19.680 something was wrong, and when they went outside, the insects 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:23.000 swarmed on them and started stinging them, and they realized 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:25.640 what they had been witnessing all along was not him 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:30.480 having fun, but him being stun They were horrified. They 0:12:30.559 --> 0:12:33.400 dragged his body into the house and called nine one one, 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:37.439 but it was too late. He was already dead. When 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:40.439 the death investigators arrived to the scene, they got stung 0:12:40.480 --> 0:12:44.280 as well, but they were able to identify the attackers 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:48.200 and it was bees. When I performed the autopsy, he 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:51.040 had over a hundred stings on his body and there 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:54.600 were multiple stingers still embedded in him. They were on 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:58.200 his hands, his armpits, his chest, his back, his abdomen, 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:02.400 his legs. They were even inside his nose, and there 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:05.360 were stings in his mouth, along the tongue, in the 0:13:05.400 --> 0:13:08.360 back of his throat. He had diffuse swelling of his 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:11.920 body and his mouth structures. The tongue and the throat 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:17.040 were markedly swollen, constricting his airway. He also had palmery, 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:21.120 congestion and edema with mucus plugging of the bronchi. His 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:25.000 cause of death was anaphylactic shock due to the bee stings. 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:28.360 Men are death accident because he didn't mean to hit 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:32.720 the hive. Identifying the type of insect is very important 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:36.480 in these type of cases. Bees, wasps, and hornets can 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:39.960 look alike, but how do you distinguish them. First off, 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:44.080 bees are fuzzy with round bodies, whereas wasps and hornets 0:13:44.120 --> 0:13:48.760 are sleek, shiny, and hairless with narrow, pinched waists. Wasps 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:52.200 are generally smaller and often have yellow black markings like 0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:56.280 yellow jackets, and hornets are larger, usually about two times 0:13:56.320 --> 0:13:59.680 the size of their smaller cousins, the wasps, and have 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:03.280 black black white markings or black white or reddish brown markings, 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:06.480 and the thing to remember is all hornets are wasps, 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:10.120 but not all wasps are hornets. One of the main 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:13.880 differences between bees, wasps, and hornets is what they eat. 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:17.960 Bees are omnivores, but they generally collect pollen and nectar 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:21.360 from flowers and plants for their sources of food, while 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:24.640 wasps and hornets are predators, collecting insects and other small 0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:27.960 invertebrate prey to feed to their young, and then the 0:14:28.000 --> 0:14:31.520 adults feed on nutritional liquid produced by their young. They 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:35.760 also feed on sugary substances like nectar, fruit, and fruit juices. 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:39.600 As far as aggression goes, hornets are the most aggressive, 0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:43.560 followed by wasps and the docile honeybees. A form of 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:46.680 bee known as killer bees, are actually more like a 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:50.320 hornet in aggression. The hives for bees and the nests 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:53.440 for hornets and wasp vary in location. They can be 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:56.880 up high, like in trees or in the ground, and 0:14:56.920 --> 0:14:59.960 can be small to up to the size of a basketball. 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:04.680 Wasps and hornet stingers are different than bees. It's more smooth, 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:08.080 with very fine, tiny barbs that don't stick into the skin. 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:11.320 It looks kind of like a knife and wasps and 0:15:11.400 --> 0:15:15.400 hornets can sting multiple times, whereas the stinger for bees 0:15:15.800 --> 0:15:18.760 has large barbs on it and it's associated with their 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:22.640 internal adominal structures. When they sting, the barbs anchor the 0:15:22.680 --> 0:15:25.200 stinger in the skin, and as the bee tries to 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:28.080 pull away, it rips out its abdominal structures and the 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:32.880 bee dies. Once detached, the stinger actually continues to pump venom. 0:15:33.000 --> 0:15:37.640 The stingers muscles and nerves continue to rhythmically contract, injecting 0:15:37.720 --> 0:15:41.520 venom for about forty five seconds to several minutes, and 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:44.080 because of this, bees really don't want to sting you 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:47.040 because they know they aren't going to survive the experience, 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:50.800 but they will if they have to defend themselves. Bees 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:53.720 have the most species located here in the US, and 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:56.840 they range in size from small, tiny fairy bees to 0:15:57.120 --> 0:16:00.800 large carpenter bees. But when most people think of bees, 0:16:00.840 --> 0:16:03.120 they think of the honey bee, which is not native 0:16:03.160 --> 0:16:05.920 to the United States but was introduced in the seventeenth 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:10.600 century by Europeans. These bees are typically very docile and 0:16:10.680 --> 0:16:13.240 they only become aggressive if they feel that their hive 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:16.560 is being attacked, but otherwise, for the most part, they 0:16:16.560 --> 0:16:19.640 don't want to sting you. The other bees that a 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:22.600 lot of people think of were the bees associated with 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:27.840 this case, which are killer bees, also known as Africanized honeybees. 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:32.880 These are hybrid species created by crossing African honeybees and 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:37.000 European honeybees. Killer bees were produced in Brazil in the 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:39.840 late nineteen fifties, with the goal being to create a 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:43.680 more resilient and productive bee species that could thrive in 0:16:43.720 --> 0:16:47.080 Brazil's tropical climate. A few of the bees escaped their 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:51.160 laboratory home, reproduced, and now killer bees are found in 0:16:51.200 --> 0:16:54.400 many parts of the world. Killer bees are highly defensive 0:16:54.440 --> 0:16:57.440 of their hive. They swarm in great numbers and even 0:16:57.520 --> 0:17:00.600 chase potential threats up to a quarter mile from the hive, 0:17:01.080 --> 0:17:04.920 making them far more aggressive than their European counterparts. They 0:17:04.960 --> 0:17:09.040 respond to threats ten times faster and more aggressively, and 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:11.840 they release a pheromone which alerts other bees so they 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:15.199 can coordinate their attack on potential threats, resulting in a 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:18.600 swarm on a target a matter of seconds. It has 0:17:18.680 --> 0:17:20.800 been noted that with a swarm that can be up 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:24.080 to ten to fifteen stings per minute, their venom is 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:26.880 not more deadly than honey bees, but typically there's more 0:17:26.920 --> 0:17:30.440 of it because bees are involved in the attack. Killer 0:17:30.480 --> 0:17:33.439 bees look very similar to honey bees, almost the same, 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:36.679 just maybe a little bit smaller, and have darker yellow 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:40.080 to golden hue. The venom produced by bees is similar 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:43.560 to that produced by wasps and hornets. It's a complex 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:48.480 mixture of peptides, enzymes, and biologically active amines, but each 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:52.520 venom has distinctive properties that serve as major allergens in humans. 0:17:53.119 --> 0:17:56.119 In bees, its meleton, which makes up to forty to 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:59.880 sixty percent of the venom. It causes cells to rupture 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:04.360 and also causes pain and inflammation. For wasp and hornets, 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:07.280 they have antigen five, which is the main cause of 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:11.080 agent in allergic reactions to their stings. All the venoms 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:15.320 have histamine in them. It causes vasodilation, leakage of fluid 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:18.959 into the tissue, as well as itching, redness, swelling, and 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:23.080 pain associated with the bite. It's also produced by cells 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:26.160 in the body known as mass cells, and is released 0:18:26.160 --> 0:18:28.880 as part of their response to the allergen, and we'll 0:18:28.920 --> 0:18:31.920 go into that a little further later. It is possible 0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:34.840 to die from a direct poisoning from the venom, but 0:18:34.960 --> 0:18:37.520 this is rare, but When it does happen, it is 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:42.840 known as toxic venom overload or a systemic toxic reaction. 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:47.160 A high volume of stings, which is about ten stings 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:50.160 per pound of body weight or anything over a thousand, 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:53.680 results in symptoms after a few minutes to hours, which 0:18:53.680 --> 0:18:59.520 include severe burning at the injection sites, headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, 0:18:59.600 --> 0:19:04.560 and a dominal pain which progresses after days to hemolytic anemia, 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:08.000 which means your red blood cells are rupturing. But when 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:11.000 there is a massive venom load seen with over five 0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:13.800 hundred and two one thousand stings or thirty to fifty 0:19:13.800 --> 0:19:16.200 in a child, you can get a cute kidney failure 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:20.119 followed by multi organ failure and death. But that didn't 0:19:20.160 --> 0:19:25.200 happen in this case. Instead, he died from anaphylaxis. Anaphylaxis 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:28.679 can be mild or severe and goes through four stages. 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:33.080 Stage one, or mild anaphylaxis, involves symptoms that occur within 0:19:33.160 --> 0:19:36.560 minutes to a few hours after the exposure to the allergen. 0:19:37.160 --> 0:19:40.840 It's usually seen with a skin rash, redness, itching, hives, 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:44.480 or even a running nose. Stage two, which is moderate 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:47.639 anaphylaxis you begin to see widespread hives all over the 0:19:47.680 --> 0:19:51.760 body with itching and mild swelling. The lips and tongue 0:19:51.840 --> 0:19:55.520 also begin to swell and there is difficulties swallowing. Typically, 0:19:55.520 --> 0:19:59.560 at this stage, epinephrine should be administered. Stage three, or 0:19:59.600 --> 0:20:03.399 an athe phylactic shock, is characterized by severe symptoms, usually 0:20:03.440 --> 0:20:07.600 difficulty breathing, extensive swelling, weak pulse, dizziness, and a drop 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:11.440 in blood pressure. At this point, your own body's inflammatory 0:20:11.480 --> 0:20:14.320 response is beginning to affect your vital organs such as 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:17.560 your lungs and heart, and it is a medical emergency. 0:20:17.840 --> 0:20:22.080 Epinephorn is usually administered, but the person experiencing this should 0:20:22.119 --> 0:20:25.520 go to the emergency room. The final stage is life 0:20:25.560 --> 0:20:31.360 threatening anaphylaxis. The individual loses consciousness and experiences severe airway 0:20:31.440 --> 0:20:35.480 constriction as well as having inadequate blood flow to vital organs, 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:38.959 and this can result in cardiac arrest and death. In 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:42.000 this situation, the person definitely needs to go to the hospital. 0:20:42.560 --> 0:20:46.320 Fifty percent of deaths from anaphylaxis occur within the first 0:20:46.359 --> 0:20:49.960 thirty minutes, and seventy five percent of deaths occur within 0:20:50.080 --> 0:20:54.360 four hours. At autopsy, the findings we see are swelling, 0:20:54.359 --> 0:20:58.480 of the tongue and throat structures, hyperinflated lungs, pulmony congestion, 0:20:58.600 --> 0:21:02.760 and dema with mucus plugging of the airways. Microscopically, there's 0:21:02.800 --> 0:21:05.679 an increased presence of a particular cell seen in the 0:21:05.680 --> 0:21:08.639 tissue known as mass cells, which are markers of an 0:21:08.680 --> 0:21:12.760 allergic reaction. Among other things. Their role is to release 0:21:12.840 --> 0:21:17.159 mediators upon detecting a pathogen or alogen, recruiting other immune cells, 0:21:17.720 --> 0:21:23.080 and also releasing histamine and triptase. Histamine we've already talked about, 0:21:23.200 --> 0:21:25.159 and it has the same effects as what occurs with 0:21:25.240 --> 0:21:30.840 the insect venom. Triptase also promotes inflammation, recruits more immune cells, 0:21:30.920 --> 0:21:34.560 and increases the number of mass cells. Triptase can be 0:21:34.560 --> 0:21:37.240 a useful marker that we use when we do laboratory 0:21:37.280 --> 0:21:39.960 testing at the time of autopsy to help prove it's 0:21:40.040 --> 0:21:43.800 actually an allergic reaction and not something else. Other markers 0:21:43.800 --> 0:21:47.200 that we can use are looking for histamine levels in IgE, 0:21:47.560 --> 0:21:50.040 which is an antibody that plays a central role in 0:21:50.080 --> 0:21:55.520 allergic reactions. With IgE, we look for venom specific antibodies 0:21:56.080 --> 0:21:58.720 if we know what's stung them, and that's why it's 0:21:58.720 --> 0:22:01.880 important to get the actual NCT involved in the incident. 0:22:02.320 --> 0:22:05.679 The laboratory tests helped confirm the fact that the person 0:22:05.720 --> 0:22:09.760 died from anaphylexis due to the specific stinging insect found 0:22:09.800 --> 0:22:12.560 at the scene. So to get the cause of death, 0:22:12.800 --> 0:22:21.360 it's a combination of autopsy findings and laboratory tests. Wow. Finally, 0:22:21.400 --> 0:22:24.800 the last stinging insect I'm going to discuss is fire ants. 0:22:25.200 --> 0:22:28.560 Fire Ants were imported from South America accidentally and introduced 0:22:28.600 --> 0:22:31.000 in the United States in the nineteen thirties through a 0:22:31.040 --> 0:22:35.200 port in Mobile, Alabama. They likely arrived and the soil 0:22:35.400 --> 0:22:39.160 used as ballast on a cargo ship. After that, fire 0:22:39.200 --> 0:22:46.400 ants spread rapidly, and today their territory includes Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, 0:22:46.480 --> 0:22:52.160 South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia, with sporadic occurrences occurring 0:22:52.160 --> 0:22:56.600 in Kentucky, Kansas, and Missouri. A typical fire ant colony 0:22:56.680 --> 0:23:00.480 produces large mounds and open areas and feeds mostly on 0:23:00.600 --> 0:23:04.960 young plants, insects, and seeds. They often will attack small 0:23:05.000 --> 0:23:08.840 animals such as live lizards, and can kill them. The 0:23:08.920 --> 0:23:12.040 venom is different than bees, wasps, and hornets and is 0:23:12.080 --> 0:23:16.880 primarily composed of sulenopsins, which is a water soluble alkaloid 0:23:17.080 --> 0:23:20.919 that causes burning, pain, redness, swelling, and inching, and it 0:23:21.000 --> 0:23:24.280 is the main cause of allergic reactions and can result 0:23:24.320 --> 0:23:29.480 in death. Workers usually use their mandibles to bite anchor 0:23:29.520 --> 0:23:33.480 to the skin and then pivot stinging repeatedly injecting venom 0:23:33.520 --> 0:23:36.920 in a circular pattern. When a fire ant mount is disturbed, 0:23:36.960 --> 0:23:40.360 which can be something as innocuous as footsteps, it can 0:23:40.359 --> 0:23:45.520 elicit an aggressive response. Fire Ants are highly territorial and 0:23:45.600 --> 0:23:50.400 defensive and will respond immediately with a coordinated attack. When 0:23:50.400 --> 0:23:54.680 the threat is detected, they release pheromones, signaling and mobilizing 0:23:54.720 --> 0:23:59.200 the colony into a massive, coordinated assault. Hundreds or even 0:23:59.280 --> 0:24:02.320 thousands of ais can pour out in seconds, and their 0:24:02.400 --> 0:24:07.000 swarm behavior is designed to overwhelm and deter threats. I 0:24:07.040 --> 0:24:09.840 have had one case where there was a massive number 0:24:09.920 --> 0:24:12.800 of fire ant bites found on the person. She was 0:24:12.840 --> 0:24:15.359 an eighty year old female who wandered away from the 0:24:15.440 --> 0:24:18.920