> Since the initial discovery, Nosema ceranae has been found  ubiquitously anywhere beekeeping is practiced. Unlike N. apis, there are NO KNOWN outward symptoms. --  Brenna Traver and Richard Fell

 
> I'd take this to mean there are no outward signs such as spotty of the hive to indicate its presence.  That's not to say there are no effects.   

I guess I would take it to mean anything you could quantify without a microscope or a pcr machine, such as sudden die-off, slow syrup uptake, or failure to build up. Following that:

> No correlation was found in the Jordan survey between the colonies with CCD symptoms and nosema disease, since we were able to find it in collapsing, weak and healthy looking colonies. Fewer than 20% of Jordanian beekeepers are using Fumidil as a prophylactic treatment, but both beekeepers who use and those not using it had collapsed colonies.

Nizar HADDAD, National Center for Agricultural Research and Extension, Bee Research. JORDAN

Their surveys were unable to correlate either nosema or use of fumagillin to colony health. This is just another of the many reports that Nosema c. is not a serious threat to healthy bees. Gut parasites are extremely common and do not necessarily lead to illness, even in people:

> Toxoplasma gondii is a microscopic protozoa that causes a disease called toxoplasmosis. The disease is found all over the world. Some estimates suggest that over 30 % of human population is infected. For example, in Germany and France most people carry the parasite, whereas in South Korea it is quite rare. More than 60 million people in the United States are said to be infected. Toxoplasmosis is usually asymptomatic, because our immune system keeps the parasite from causing illness. 

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at:
http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm