Hello Randy & All,
First let me say I am NOT dissing Randy but trying to explain my position. 
First like myself  beekeepers look to Randy's articles for guidance. His 
position ( from my reading of his articles and on BEE-L are very different 
than mine on nosema ceranae).
I let his article titled something like:
"Nosema cerane a big problem or much to do about nothing"
pass but  wanted to say :
Now wait a minute Randy" but kept silence.

Below posted by Allen is the progression way nosema cerane works from *my* 
U.S.  research on the subject since around 2004. I knew nosema control had 
changed but could not figure out why. When we found out we were now dealing 
mainly with nosema ceranae instead of nosema apis then things started 
falling in place.

Higes and Meana research mimics mine. I suspect I was looking into nosema 
issues when others (including the USDA-ARS) did not have a clue a new 
problem was developing.

With CCD the CCD team found the new ( old ) problem. Finally! I thought of 
sending off to see if possibly nosema ceranae was in the U.S. but was sure 
the USDA-ARS had done so with all the published nosema issues in Spain. 
Nope! I was told nosema ceranae was not in the U.S, and they were checking. 
Hmmm.

*If*  the below information ( after more than five years of research in 
Spain) is correct then all the researcher hype about not to worry about 
nosema ceranae levels in hives is wrong.

fence sitters need to decide!

I believe based on my research Higes and Meana have it right and Randy & 
Williams have it wrong so we will simple have to::
"Agree to disagree"

To beekeepers reading you need to choose wisely which course of action for 
your bees. I have seen whole operations in the depopulation & collapse stage 
suggested by Higes. Not pretty and does not happen over night but after a 
given period of nosema ceranae buildup a whole yard can crash fast looking 
like the described CCD symptoms and appear to be some new malady when in 
reality only as Higes describes the collapse and depopulation phase.

I really do not care what other researchers have said and are saying. I have 
read much of the *other* published hypothesis but Higes ( Spain) in my 
opinion has the correct hypothesis.

Randy may come on and say different but I asked a few fellow BEE-L members 
their opinion before saying what I am about to say.

They agreed it is their understanding that The Oliver position is:
 Not to worry about *certain* levels of nosema ceranae in your hives. If so 
then the opposite of the Higes

while the Higes ( and Bob Harrison) position is too WORRY and try to keep 
levels low through monitoring and TREATMENT with fumigillin.

Several have read this post and think I have the positions right. I know 
which side of the fence I am on(Higes side) .

The Higes and Meana four stages:

> Higes and Meana explained that the pathogenesis of ceranae infection in a 
> colony progresses through four stages:
>
> Asymptomatic-the infection builds slowly the first year, goes unnoticed, 
> but can be detected microscopically in foragers.
>
> Replacement--The bees rally by rearing more brood, even through winter.
>
> False Recovery-- This may occur the second summer, during which the colony 
> rebounds somewhat.  However, in this phase the infection starts to move 
> into the house bees.
>
> Depopulation and Collapse--Finally, the bees "lose ventricular function" 
> (they can no longer digest food), stop eating (and stop taking medicated 
> syrup, or pollen supplement), and simply starve to death in the midst of 
> plenty.  Most adults die far from the hive, leaving only a handful of 
> young bees and the queen.
>
> Colonies can collapse either during summer or winter, but the character of 
> the infection differs.  During cold season collapse, most bees are 
> infected, and spore counts exceed 10 million spores per bee.  Contrarily, 
> under warm season breakdown, less than half the bees are infected, and 
> spore counts are generally much lower.  Forager bees just die in the 
> field, and the colony shows no symptoms other than dwindling away.

> The Spanish researchers generally don't count spores, however.  To them, a 
> colony is either "clean," with zero spores, or infected, and on its way to 
> eventual collapse unless treated with fumagillin.

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison
Missouri 

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