Honey bee pathology: current threats to honey bees and beekeeping (original) (raw)
Related papers
Widespread occurrence of honey bee pathogens in solitary bees
Journal of Invertebrate Pathology, 2014
Solitary bees and honey bees from a neighbouring apiary were screened for a broad set of putative pathogens including protists, fungi, spiroplasmas and viruses. Most sampled bees appeared to be infected with multiple parasites. Interestingly, viruses exclusively known from honey bees such as Apis mellifera Filamentous Virus and Varroa destructor Macula-like Virus were also discovered in solitary bees. A microsporidium found in Andrena vaga showed most resemblance to Nosema thomsoni. Our results suggest that bee hives represent a putative source of pathogens for other pollinators. Similarly, solitary bees may act as a reservoir of honey bee pathogens.
Occurrence of honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) pathogens in commercial and traditional hives
Journal of Apicultural Research, 2019
This work was aimed at the detection of the differences in the occurrence of seven bee pathogens between bee colonies kept in commercial and traditional ways. The research was conducted on 120 apparently healthy, commercially kept colonies in DB hives and 24 traditionally kept colonies in primitive, so-called trmka hives on the Pester Plateau. Brood samples were taken from all colonies to assess the occurrence of bee brood disease agents (Paenibacillus larvae, Melissococcus plutonius, Ascosphaera apis and sacbrood virus-SBV) and adult bee pathogens (deformed wing virus-DWV, chronic bee paralysis virus-CBPV and acute bee paralysis virus-ABPV). PCR diagnostics was used in all cases, in compliance with the existing methods adopted by OIE. Concerning bee brood disease-causing agents, in commercial hives P. larvae (16.67% samples), A. apis (15.83%) and the SBV (96.67%) were confirmed, whilst in traditional hives, SBV was the only one detected (33.33%). M. plutonius was not found in any sample. As for adult bee diseases, in both commercial and traditional hives all of the three viruses were detected (DWV, ABPV, CBPV), but their occurrence in the former (100.00, 100.00 and 83.33%, respectively) was significantly (p<0.001) higher than in the latter (33.33% occurrence of each). No commercially kept colonies were free from all disease causes, while in the traditionally kept group there were 66.66% of such colonies. It can be concluded that the traditional way of beekeeping provides significantly better conditions for maintenance of bee health and their resistance to pathogens.
Parasites, pathogens, and pests of honeybees in Asia
Apidologie, 2015
Asia is home to at least nine honeybee species, including the introduced Apis mellifera. In addition to A. mellifera and Apis cerana being widely employed for commercial beekeeping, the remaining nonmanaged species also have important ecological and economic roles on the continent. Species distributions of most honeybee species overlap in Southeast Asia. This promotes the potential for interspecific transmission of pests and parasites and their spread to other parts of the world by human translocation. The decline of honeybee populations is of great concern around the world, including in Asia. The global colony losses of A. mellifera are believed to be caused, in part, by parasites, pathogens, and pests originating from Asia, such as the mite Varroa destructor , the microsporidian Nosema ceranae , and some bee viruses. This review discusses important pests, pathogens, and parasites in both the introduced A. mellifera and native honeybees in Asia to provide an overall picture of honeybee health in the region and future threats to the apiculture industry.
Pathogens Spillover from Honey Bees to Other Arthropods
Pathogens
Honey bees, and pollinators in general, play a major role in the health of ecosystems. There is a consensus about the steady decrease in pollinator populations, which raises global ecological concern. Several drivers are implicated in this threat. Among them, honey bee pathogens are transmitted to other arthropods populations, including wild and managed pollinators. The western honey bee, Apis mellifera, is quasi-globally spread. This successful species acted as and, in some cases, became a maintenance host for pathogens. This systematic review collects and summarizes spillover cases having in common Apis mellifera as the mainteinance host and some of its pathogens. The reports are grouped by final host species and condition, year, and geographic area of detection and the co-occurrence in the same host. A total of eighty-one articles in the time frame 1960–2021 were included. The reported spillover cases cover a wide range of hymenopteran host species, generally living in close cont...
Virulence of mixed fungal infections in honey bee brood
Introduction: Honey bees, Apis mellifera, have a diverse community of pathogens. Previous research has mostly focused on bacterial brood diseases of high virulence, but milder diseases caused by fungal pathogens have recently attracted more attention. This interest has been triggered by partial evidence that co-infection with multiple pathogens has the potential to accelerate honey bee mortality. In the present study we tested whether co-infection with closely related fungal brood-pathogen species that are either specialists or non-specialist results in higher host mortality than infections with a single specialist. We used a specially designed laboratory assay to expose honey bee larvae to controlled infections with spores of three Ascosphaera species: A. apis, the specialist pathogen that causes chalkbrood disease in honey bees, A. proliperda, a specialist pathogen that causes chalkbrood disease in solitary bees, and A. atra, a saprophytic fungus growing typically on pollen brood-provision masses of solitary bees. Results: We show for the first time that single infection with a pollen fungus A. atra may induce some mortality and that co-infection with A. atra and A. apis resulted in higher mortality of honey bees compared to single infections with A. apis. However, similar single and mixed infections with A. proliperda did not increase brood mortality. Conclusion: Our results show that co-infection with a closely related fungal species can either increase or have no effect on host mortality, depending on the identity of the second species. Together with other studies suggesting that multiple interacting pathogens may be contributing to worldwide honey bee health declines, our results highlight the importance of studying effects of multiple infections, even when all interacting species are not known to be specialist pathogens.
Journal of Apicultural Science, 2022
Managed honey bee populations have fluctuated over the past several decades in the U.S. While a single factor has not been identified for these losses, the interaction between multiple biotic and abiotic stressors have been suggested to be responsible. Of major concern are several invasive parasite and pathogen species as well as colony management. A single honey bee colony often suffers from multiple harmful agents, that may act synergistically and cause greater declines in bee health. We conducted a survey to detect known and lesser-known honey bee parasites and pathogens. While previous research has primarily focused on commercially managed colonies, research is limited to pertaining parasite and pathogen prevalence in hobbyist managed colonies. Molecular diagnostics were used to screen 541 Arkansas (AR) honey bee colonies from 107 hobbyist beekeepers for eight A. mellifera parasite and pathogen species. Colony samples were obtained between 2015-2016 and represented forty-seven of the seventy-five AR counties. Vairimorpha ceranae (11.6% occurrence) and parasite Varroa destructor (49.4% occurrence) were relatively common in AR hobbyist colonies. Interestingly, the lesser-studied pathogenic trypanosome species, Lotmaria passim, was detected in 11.3% of the colonies and widespread in twenty of the forty-seven counties sampled. None of the honey bee pathogens Vairimorpha apis, Spiroplasma apis, S. melliferum, Crithidia mellificae, or the parasitic phorid fly, Apocephalus borealis, were detected in the colonies sampled. This study provides an extensive assessment of the parasite and pathogen species occurring at the AR state-level in hobbyist-managed honey bee colonies.
The Problem of Diseases in Bees
Pollination Biology, 2011
Problem of diseases is a serious concern both in domesticated and wild soiltary bees. When disease strikes a hive of bees, it can devastate the colony and spread to the entire beekeeping operation. All bees are susceptible to diseases, and when they are domesticated, their population densities increase to suit human needs, making them more susceptible. Decline in their population has threatened the food security on global scale through deficit of pollinators. Most attempts at disease control have centered on drug treatments leading to resistance in disease causing pathogens and problem of residues in hive products. This chapter discusses how disease control strategies could be improved by breeding bees for disease resistance and better hygienic behaviour allowing researchers to identify that time and place in the management system for which the pathogen is most vulnerable, followed by targeting treatments to that stage. 605 18.2 Problem of Diseases in Honeybees ceranae has a pathology that is different from Nosema apis. The causative agent for Nosema is Nosema apis, which rarely causes major losses in infected colonies. However, high mortality rate demonstrates that N. ceranae is highly pathogenic to Apis mellifera. Bees die within 8 days after exposure to N. ceranae which is faster than bees exposed to N. apis. Some new viruses and bacteria have been discovered.
The investigation of honey bee diseases after colony losses in Hatay and Adana provinces of Turkey
2010
Sudden colony losses occurred in Turkey, mostly in Hatay and Adana region in the year of 2007. After this event, all of our laboratory experiments were focused on this region. The aim of the study was to investigate the situation of honey bee diseases in HatayAdana region and to determine probable causes of colony losses. In this research, 97 and 88 honey bee brood combs were collected from Adana and Hatay during the spring and autumn field works. The total numbers of investigated adult honey bee were 3880 from Adana and 3520 from Hatay. All debris and adult honey bee samples were investigated under dissection microscope for diagnosis of Varroasis. Spore counting method was used for Nosemosis. “Guanine visualization” and “dissection” methods were used for diagnosis of Acarapiasis. Larval samples were inoculated to selective media for determination of American and European Foulbrood. For bacterial identification, biochemical tests used and Gramstained slides were investigated under l...