Research Summary
Citation: Belloy, L., Imdorf, A., Fries, I., Forsgren, E., Berthoud, H., Kuhn, R., Charriere, J. (2007). Spatial distribution of Melissococcus plutonius in adult honey bees collected from apiaries and colonies with and without symptoms of European foulbrood. Apidologie 38: 136-140.
Brief Description: European Foulbrood (EFB), a bacterial disease of honey bee larvae, is widespread globally, and on the rise in Switzerland. In this study, the authors surveyed Swiss colonies; in apiaries with clinical symptoms of EFB, in apiaries without symptoms but near EFB areas, and in apiaries without symptoms and far from EFB effected areas. Using DNA with a PCR technique, adult bees were sampled for the bacterium Melissococcus plutonis, the causative agent for EFB. Eighty colonies were sampled across 11 apiaries. In symptom free colonies within apiaries where other colonies had EFB symptoms, 90% of the adult bees taken from apparently disease free colonies had the bacterium present. In apiaries where no colonies had symptoms, but were near to other apiaries with symptoms, 30% of those bees sampled carried the bacterium. In apiaries without symptoms and far from EFB effected areas, no bees where found to be carrying the bacterium.
Implications: The authors conclude that in apiaries where individual hives are expressing symptoms, it is likely that most hives in the apiary are infected with the bacterium, even if they are not expressing symptoms of the disease. In regional areas where there is no history of the disease, it is likely that these areas will be free from the EFB bacterium. It is suggested that the amount of bees infected with the bacterium in a hive is likely to increase as the distance to infected hives decreases.
summary/review by Michael Wilson, University of Tennessee
Bee Informed Partnership