Clemson says lab tests mistaken, killer bees not really in SC

Killer bees have not invaded South Carolina, after all, Clemson University says.

In May, Clemson announced that a hive of aggressive Africanized bees had been found near Charleston. The announcement created a stir because the bees have been known to swarm and attack people with little provocation. Some people around the world have died after being stung multiple times.

But on Tuesday, the university announced that the initial laboratory test results were wrong. The bees found in Charleston were actually of a less aggressive European strain.

Initial testing at government laboratories in Arizona and Florida determined an up to 95 percent chance the stinging bugs were Africanized bees, Clemson said. Those bees, commonly referred to as killer bees, have moved from Central and South America into North America, although not into South Carolina. The last verified report of Africanized bees in South Carolina was in 2001.

Scientists worry that Africanized bees could breed with local European populations and create a more aggressive type of bee in the U.S.

Mike Weyman, Clemson’s deputy director of regulatory services, said the school chose to notify the public in May – before final lab results were in – to make people aware that the insects had arrived. The bees had already attacked a beekeeper and several bystanders, according to the university.

Clemson destroyed the hive and had tests done at the labs in Arizona and Florida.

“The aggressiveness of this hive required us to act immediately in this case,” he said in a news release Tuesday. “We were acting out of an abundance of caution, which is part of our job protecting the people and agricultural industry of South Carolina.”

Attempts to reach laboratory spokespeople in Florida and Arizona were not successful Tuesday. The labs are among the premier research institutions in the country for bees. The U.S. Department of Agriculture operates the lab in Tucson, Ariz., while the state of Florida operates the one in Gainesville.

Brad Cavin, a Clemson bee researcher, said preliminary lab results have in the past been reliable without more extensive follow-up testing.

“It was the first time in my four years of sending samples off to ever get preliminary lab results like that,’’ Cavin said.

This story was originally published July 20, 2016 at 7:45 AM with the headline "Clemson says lab tests mistaken, killer bees not really in SC."