> Correct, it does not form spores.  Why it is not killed by 8kGy of gamma
> irradition is also a mystery.  Being in spring pollination, I can see why
> you are concerned, as the disease is typically only a problem where
> management necessitiates moving colonies from pollen rich spring yards,
> into stressful, pollen poor pollination yards.  Perhaps pollen patties
> prior to and going into pollination may help the colony keep pace with the
> disease?

Here in New Zealand, we don't have EFB.  Because of this, we have been aware
of a "disease" (referred to as Half Mood Disorder - HMD) that has similar
symptoms to EFB.  Nowhere else in the World was this "disease" truly
documented.  The fix for this "disease" was to "put on good conditions and
requeen", i.e. much the same as found in many countries' Ag bulletins for the
control of EFB.

It took Dennis Anderson from Australia to spend some time on this topic both
here and in Australia to solve this mystery.  I believe that because other
countries have EFB, anything with symptoms showing lemon/creamy larvae
climbing out of the cells apparently starving, is considered EFB  - and the
normal treatment is applied i.e. put on good conditions, requeen etc. and if
that doesn't work, feed an antibiotic (if of course antibiotics are not
already being fed).

Without EFB here, (i.e. Strep P. the known causative organism could never be
isolated) we had to find another explaination for these symptoms.

What Dennis found is that HMD is a nutritional problem of the virgin queens,
probably at the time of feeding after emergence and prior to mating.  This
poor nutrition produces queens that have problems laying fertilized eggs and
may in fact show up drone laying.

The larvae are not fed properly and end up *starving* - i.e. their death has
the same symptoms as EFB because they starve from lack of food whereas EFB
infected larvae starve due to the bacteria in their gut overwhelming their
ability to absorb food.  I.e. in the field it is imposible to tell the
difference between EFB and HMD from the symptoms of the larvae.

However one of the key symptoms of HMD is multiple eggs in the same cell (or
even around the entrance to the cell) and eggs at odd angles.  Next time you
see "EFB", look for multiple eggs (even only 2) per cell.  If you find that,
chances are you actually have HMD.

Because Dennis isolated this disorder to Virgin nutrition, it is reasonable
to assume that it is as common elsewhere in the World as it is in New
Zealand.  He went on to indicate that the cause of this nutrition problem was
likely to be the age of nurse bees in mating nucleii.  Those at risk were
small nucs that regularly had mated queens taken out without a cycle of brood
coming on to provide nurse bees of the optimal age.

If true, it's easy to see why requeening has been considered such a fix for
"EFB".  Also the reference to "good conditions" as a treatment may mean that
larvae that did not get fed under dearth conditions, now get fed.  I
personally think it's possible the only "true" EFB out there is the stuff
that has to be treated with antibiotics to cure.  And following on from that,
half of the treatment program for "EFB" is actually for HMD.

Peter Bray

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