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By Rosemary Grant
Tuesday, 02/09/2008
A new strain of a serious bee disease has just been identified in Tasmania, and beekeepers believe it's too late to eradicate it.The disease is called nosema, and Tasmania already has the European strain, nosema apis, that affects queens, drones and workers, causing dysentery.But this week a more serious form, the asian strain, nosema ceranae, has been confirmed in Tasmania, with three positive test results from 40 samples that have been analysed to date. President of the Tasmanian Beekeepers Association, Julian Woolfhagen, says nosema is a type of protozoa that can cause whole hives to collapse in the space of a week."It gives them diarrhoea, that's a physical symptom but nosema's been, amongst the congnisenty at least, well understood as one of the most severe diseases in its impact on the viability or the production of hives, therefore this nosema apis costs the beekeeping industry far more than any of its other diseases," he said.Mr Woolfhagen says more tests will be needed to establish the extent of the disease in Tasmania, but the information from Tasmania's chief vet suggests the new 'ceranae' strain can't be eradicated."It's impossible, I think at this stage. It may well have been here for some period of time, in which case it may well have gotten into the feral bee population. It might be more widespread. At this stage we're only through 30 per cent of the testing, so it's too early to tell, but I suspect in a practical sense to control it and eliminate it would be beyond any reasonable chance of success."
In this report: Julain Woolfhagen is president of the Tasmanian Beekeepers Association
Tuesday, 02/09/2008
A new strain of a serious bee disease has just been identified in Tasmania, and beekeepers believe it's too late to eradicate it.The disease is called nosema, and Tasmania already has the European strain, nosema apis, that affects queens, drones and workers, causing dysentery.But this week a more serious form, the asian strain, nosema ceranae, has been confirmed in Tasmania, with three positive test results from 40 samples that have been analysed to date. President of the Tasmanian Beekeepers Association, Julian Woolfhagen, says nosema is a type of protozoa that can cause whole hives to collapse in the space of a week."It gives them diarrhoea, that's a physical symptom but nosema's been, amongst the congnisenty at least, well understood as one of the most severe diseases in its impact on the viability or the production of hives, therefore this nosema apis costs the beekeeping industry far more than any of its other diseases," he said.Mr Woolfhagen says more tests will be needed to establish the extent of the disease in Tasmania, but the information from Tasmania's chief vet suggests the new 'ceranae' strain can't be eradicated."It's impossible, I think at this stage. It may well have been here for some period of time, in which case it may well have gotten into the feral bee population. It might be more widespread. At this stage we're only through 30 per cent of the testing, so it's too early to tell, but I suspect in a practical sense to control it and eliminate it would be beyond any reasonable chance of success."
In this report: Julain Woolfhagen is president of the Tasmanian Beekeepers Association
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