COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 28 (UPI) -- Texas agriculture officials said Friday that Africanized honey bees, commonly called killer bees, are continuing to spread across the state.
The latest colony was confirmed in Grimes County after a bulldozer operator was attacked May 24 by a swarm that stung him at least 200 times, according to the Texas Apiary Inspection Service. The man was treated and later released.
Paul Jackson, the state's chief apiary inspector, said Africanized bees have now been confirmed in 152 of the state's 254 counties. Those counties have been quarantined to prevent beekeepers from moving beehives outside the zone and accidentially spreading the Africanized honey bees.
Africanized honey bees look like regular domestic honey bees, which are valuable to agriculture, but they are more aggressive in protecting their hives, Jackson said.
The Africanized bee was first detected in the United States near Brownsville, Texas, in October 1990. Africanized honey bees also have been found in Arizona, California, Nevada and New Mexico.
