[IP] Its a fungus, not cell phones causing Bee Colony Collapse Disorder

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: EEkid@aol.com
Date: April 28, 2007 6:33:18 PM EDT
To: dave@farber.net
Subject: Re: [IP] Its a fungus, not cell phones causing Bee Colony  
Collapse Disorder

Dave,

Being a beekeeper, I found the cell phone stories fairly amusing.   
Considering that this problem has been documented for at least 100  
years, cell phones obviously are not the cause.  According to bee  
publications in my collection, which date from the 1800's,  
"Disappearing Disease" as it was called then, has existed since at  
least the 1890's.

When I read the first reports and they stated that hives using a  
treatment called Fumagilin-B were not affected, I immediately  
suspected Nosema. Also considering that a particularly nasty strain  
of Nosema was being reported to have decimated hives in Europe, I  
assumed it had made its way to the America.  As soon as I read this,  
I placed an order for Fumagilin-B to beat the rush which is sure to  
occur.

In a recent research report, a group of researchers have taken comb  
from affected hives and added them to healthy hives.  Shortly after,  
they too were affected.  They then irradiated affected comb and  
placed it in healthy hives and those hives did NOT experience colony  
collapse disorder.  It is clearly a pathogen  The good news is that  
there already appears to be an effective treatment available on the  
market.

While the damage to the US bee industry is substantial and it will  
take some time to recover, this isn't the end of the world.  The bee  
industry will get past this major bump in the road.  Considering all  
the other factors which affect beekeepers, such as Africanized  
Honeybees, Varroa mites, American foul brood, etc., it's amazing the  
large apiaries are still in business.

If your readers would like to stay abreast of the issue they can  
visit the following site for updates.

Check the MAAREC website http://maarec.cas.psu.edu for updates on  
this issue

Jerry


In a message dated 4/28/2007 4:03:29 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
dave@farber.net writes:
Begin forwarded message:

From: "Robert J. Berger" <rberger@ibd.com>
Date: April 27, 2007 5:28:55 PM EDT
To: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@warpspeed.com>, David Farber
<dave@farber.net>
Subject: Its a fungus, not cell phones causing Bee Colony Collapse
Disorder

Experts may have found what's bugging the bees

A fungus that hit hives in Europe and Asia may be partly to blame for
wiping out colonies across the U.S.
By Jia-Rui Chong and Thomas H. Maugh II, Times Staff Writers April
26, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-sci-bees26apr26,0,7437491.story?
track=mostviewed-storylevel

A fungus that caused widespread loss of bee colonies in Europe and
Asia may be playing a crucial role in the mysterious phenomenon known
as Colony Collapse Disorder that is wiping out bees across the United
States, UC San Francisco researchers said Wednesday.

Researchers have been struggling for months to explain the disorder,
and the new findings provide the first solid evidence pointing to a
potential cause.

But the results are "highly preliminary" and are from only a few
hives from Le Grand in Merced County, UCSF biochemist Joe DeRisi
said. "We don't want to give anybody the impression that this thing
has been solved."

Other researchers said Wednesday that they too had found the fungus,
a single-celled parasite called Nosema ceranae, in affected hives
from around the country — as well as in some hives where bees had
survived. Those researchers have also found two other fungi and half
a dozen viruses in the dead bees.

N. ceranae is "one of many pathogens" in the bees, said entomologist
Diana Cox-Foster of Pennsylvania State University. "By itself, it is
probably not the culprit … but it may be one of the key players."

Cox-Foster was one of the organizers of a meeting in Washington,
D.C., on Monday and Tuesday where about 60 bee researchers gathered
to discuss Colony Collapse Disorder.

"We still haven't ruled out other factors, such as pesticides or
inadequate food resources following a drought," she said. "There are
lots of stresses that these bees are experiencing," and it may be a
combination of factors that is responsible.

Historically, bee losses are not unusual. Weather, pesticide
exposures and infestations by pests, such as the Varroa mite, have
wiped out significant numbers of colonies in the past, particularly
in the 1960s and 1970s.

But the current loss appears unprecedented. Beekeepers in 28 states,
Canada and Britain have reported large losses. About a quarter of the
estimated 2.4 million commercial colonies across the United States
have been lost since fall, said Jerry Hayes of the Florida Department
of Agriculture and Consumer Services in Gainesville.




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