Randy, please remind us.  Are combs contaminated with spores when a hive has
> nosema ceranae?
>

Virtually no spores on combs from my operation with 5-10M spore counts at
the entrance for two years straight.  However, a few spores on a comb that
was sent to another researcher, then forwarded to me.

However, note that it generally takes a lot of spores to infect a bee.  So
ingesting a few spores while cleaning combs would be unlikely to cause
infection.

The actual mode of transmission of N ceranae is essentially unknown.  I
corresponded with Dr Higes yesterday--he is trying to determine.  He has two
new papers that will soon be released.

Sorry, I'm way behind on updating my website.  I will let you know when I
catch up on uploading my articles from ABJ.

Randy Oliver

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