Thanks to all who responded to my question.
Back in the 60s and 70s when I was being taught my beekeeping we used to 
take sample to test for nosema and accarine every autumn and treat if 
necessary. Fumidil for nosema in winter feed, and Folbex (now banned)for 
accarine. Here in the UK we would send a sample of at least 30 bees to 
the County Bee Instuctor,who was retained by the Education Authority 
(Now a post long gone).Stacks of empty supers were treated with 80% 
acetic acid, 4oz of acid on a pad for each box in the stack, no matter 
how well the boxes were sealed every one complained about the smell!
Eventualy I got my own microscopes and learnt to do my own tests. During 
the late 80s /early 90s nosema became harder to find and accarine almost 
completely dissapeared (mainly I think because my bees were dark), due 
to work constraints I stopped testing.Winter losses were minimal 2-3%
and spring dwindling a thing of the past. Untill last year 06-07 when 
losses were up to 20% and more in a few cases. So this spring after the 
anouncement by our National Bee Unit that Nosema ceranae had been found, 
I got the microscopes out again and so far I have found nosema in about 
30% of each apiary, most being light to moderate, about 5% heavy 
infestation(my interpretation of the amount of spores in a single view 
at 600 times)
I was thinking that if I have to start sterilizing supers again it might 
be easier to put them in a sealed room with a generator for a month, and 
that should not cause the metal runners, frame nails etc to rot.
But only if I knew it worked.
Next question. this thing about yeasts fermenting pollen, where does 
this ake place? My understanding of pollen digestion is that it takes 
place in the ventriculus, the epithelial cells of the ventriculus wall 
produce the enzyme 'protease' that disolves the pores on the pollen 
grain enabling the protein to be digested. Leaving an empty husk and 
some fat globules.
The epithelial cells of the ventriculus is the site of invasion by 
nosema, causing the epithelial cells to die early, unable to digest 
protein the workers are unable to feed brood and their lives are 
shortened, hence spring dwindling.
This spring my winter losses are about 7% but many colonies are small, 
still only 4-6 combs.
Regards Andrew Johnston

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