I agree with all that Eric has to say. He and I have had extensive
conversations about these issues.
Eric mentions researcher results. I will add that we have been sampling bees
for N. ceranae since a member of our research team first announced its
presence last April (2007). That annoyed researchers who knew it was in U.S. bees,
but hadn't told the bee industry about it.
Every CCD operation that we've sampled since August has had N. ceranae in
some of the colonies - as verified by PCR by Dr. Robert Cramer at Montana State
University - our sister institution. We weren't looking for this pathogen
until Joe DeRisi found it last April. Robb got set up to look for it before
end of the summer, and we've been screening for it ever since.
After Dr. Highes and Randy Oliver reported a difference in the number of
spores of N. ceranae in bees of different ages, we changed our sampling
procedure.
Last month I sampled several bee operations in CA. In each case, I took a
sample of old bees and a sample of young bees from each marked colony. More
often than not, we saw it in the older bees, only occasionally in young bees.
Seeing 12 million spores in an old bee, versus none in a young bee is quite
a contrast.
I'm skeptical that any treatment is going to help the health of individual
bees that are already infected, but this preliminary data indicates that
treatment in the spring MAY help protect the young, uninfected bees.
I can't say whether increasing the dose, frequency of application, or
drenching bees will do the trick. I can say that we and many ID and WA beekeepers
used fumadil/fumagillin last fall according to label directions for N. apis
AND IT DIDN'T WORK. Huge overwinter losses, and LOTS of N. ceranae in the
bees.
N. ceranae seems to be a tough little pathogen. As I've said before, it
doesn't account for all cases of CCD, but it certainly is widespread. When we
find colonies that are in poor shape, tossing out dead/dying bees that are
loaded with N. ceranae spores, it sure looks like what the Spaniards have been
describing.
Remember also, we are more focused on large bee operations in the WEST than
are some of the other CCD researchers. Out here, we share one thing in
common with Spain, lots of areas of semi-arid, relatively hot climate.
Jerry
**************Wondering what's for Dinner Tonight? Get new twists on family
favorites at AOL Food.
(http://food.aol.com/dinner-tonight?NCID=aolfod00030000000001)
****************************************************
* General Information About BEE-L is available at: *
* http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/default.htm *
****************************************************
|