> What do nosema counts of .05 million, 1.7 million. and .2 million mean? Are these serious infections? According to Traver and Fell: > While N. ceranae is a less prolific spore producer than N. apis, estimating 1 million spores per bee sample is a good threshold value to use when considering the need for colony treatment. At the same time they say: > Reliable threshold levels for N. ceranae treatment are still unknown. Finally: > Colony mortality due to N. ceranae infections does not appear to be a major factor in colony losses throughout the mid-Atlantic region. We do not feel that N. ceranae is a major factor associated with colony decline. http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/ENTO/ENTO-66/ENTO-66-pdf.pdf *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html