Beekeepers Friend

Peaches' Beekeeping Blog

September 6, 2007

Colony Collapse Disorder

By ekpeach in Education,Hive Health | 3 comments

There is an article that suggests a virus coming from Australia is the cause for the Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Seems that the pathogen, Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus, is paralyzing the bees or at least weakening them to the point of death, that the bees are dying outside of the hive.

The bee packages, or the queens, that are imported from Australia, are bringing the pathogens in. The bees in Australia are not affected by the virus. Since there are no Mites in that country, it could mean that the bees are healthy and can combat the disease on their own. The mite infected bees have diminished immunity and are susceptible to the infection.

If this is the case, then it should be a short time to the cure. (My thoughts on the subject). I could be wrong and it will take a long time to find the cure. Having said that, this is the best most different reason in a long time for CCD. It is much better than blaming the cell phones and cell phone towers.

I hope that the Federal Bee Labs are on top of this new theory.

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2 Comment(s)

  1. dpeach | Sep 6, 2007 | Reply

    I just read an article from Bloomberg news which says:

    Colony Collapse Disorder may have started in the U.S. as early as 2004, about the same time a decades-old ban on honeybee imports from Australia was lifted, according to the study.

    The restrictions were established to prevent imports of pests that could threaten domestic bees, said Jeff Pettis, an entomologist with the USDA’s bee research lab in Beltsville, Maryland, and one of the study’s authors.

    Seems like the ban that has been in place for “decades” has merit and may need to be re-implemented.

  2. ekpeach | Sep 6, 2007 | Reply

    That re-implementing would be good; however, we are short on bees as it is and need to get them from any place we can. In this case though, would we be losing more than we gained? Canada is not experiencing CCD and they are not allowing imports from Australia either.

    We just have to hope that the government will take all this under advisement.

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