A more extensive discussion of the UCSF finding with some interesting quotes from Jeff Pettis.
I was amused by the headline "Mutant Microbe Suspected in Honeybee Dieoff" , the mainstream
media just has to put an apocalyptic spin on this story no matter what.
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2007/apr/27/mutant-microbe-suspected-in-die-off-
of-honeybees/
"Fueling the UCSF scientists' interest in the parasite is a recent paper, published by the Journal of
Invertebrate Pathology in January, in which a team of Spanish researchers infected hives of
European honeybees with Nosema ceranae. Within eight days, the colonies were wiped out.
'Historical samples'
The federal government's leading honeybee scientists, however, are not ready to conclude that
DeRisi has found anything significant. Jeffery Pettis, research leader for the U.S. Agriculture
Department's Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Md., said reports suggesting that this parasite
has recently appeared in the United States are simply wrong. "There are historical samples from
the mid-1990s," he said.
Before then, the parasite was seldom seen outside Asia, where it favored a species of honeybee
found only there. It did not cause colony collapse in Asia.
Now, Pettis said, tests have shown that Nosema ceranae has displaced a related strain that had
been the dominant form of the parasite in the United States, Pettis said. However, large quantities
of the microbe have been found in bee colonies that are healthy, as well as in those that have
collapsed, he said.
Pettis said the parasite could simply be taking advantage of a newly developed weakness in the
insects' immune systems. "Mostly we think of Nosema as a stress disorder of honeybees," he said.
It is possible that a more virulent strain of Nosema ceranae has evolved in the United States, but
Pettis doubts it. "We can't rule it out completely," he said.
Evan Skowronski, senior team leader for biosciences at the Army lab and a friend of DeRisi's, said
that because the stakes are high, every important lead in the search for the cause of the honeybee
deaths needs to be pursued.
"We're not ready to say this is it, but it is a pathogen of interest," he said.
Skowronski said there is no reason to think that the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder is
"anything other than Mother Nature." However, he said that any natural threat to honeybees has
major implications for the United States. "This needs a high level of attention," he said.
DeRisi agreed that more tests will be needed to prove or disprove the parasite's role.
"In our results, the control bees did not have it, and the sick ones were loaded with the stuff," he
said. "It is going to take a lot of time to figure out."
Also this email between Doug McRory and Jerry Hayes is of interest to the discussion:
To Doug McRory
Seems that they can't find N apis in samples but they always find N
ceranae. Which raises other interesting questions. Not on the CCD
Working Groups short list because some CCD suffers treat with Fumidil so
it may not be N ceranae as the primary cause.
Thanks Jerry Hayes, States Apiarist of Florida
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