The microsporidian Nosema ceranae, the antibiotic Fumagilin-B®, and western honey bee (Apis mellifera) colony strength

Effects at Nearctic north-temperate latitudes of indoor versus outdoor overwintering on the microsporidium Nosema ceranae and western honey bees (Apis mellifera)

“…This, coupled with an insignificant relationship between fall N. ceranae intensity and colony mortality, supports data that N. ceranae may not always pose the most significant threat to western honey bees (Guzmán-Novoa et al, 2010;Williams et al, 2010). We can only speculate, but it is possible that N. ceranae present in Maritime Canada (Williams et al, 2008b) differs in virulence from strains found in other regions of the world, or that experimental colonies were not sufficiently stressed, and therefore not particularly susceptible to N. ceranae disease.…”

The stability and effectiveness of fumagillin in controlling Nosema ceranae (Microsporidia) infection in honey bees (Apis mellifera) under laboratory and field conditions

“…In Canada, different efficacy results were recently obtained when applying 8 L of syrup with a total of 190 mg fumagillin (a very diluted mixture) and only testing the colonies the following spring while establishing intensity by mean spore count (Williams et al 2010(Williams et al , 2011, a parameter that is quite unreliable to establish the state of the disease (Meana et al 2010), even when external bees were sampled. However, in this study, neither the quantity consumed, the time needed to consume all the food (medicated or not), nor the conditions of storage were indicated.…”

Evaluation of Fumagilin-B® and other potential alternative chemotherapies against Nosema ceranae-infected honeybees (Apis mellifera) in cage trial assays

“…Infections of N. ceranae have been shown to cause high levels of colony loss in some regions, while both species have been implicated as part of the pathogen complex associated with the colony collapse disorder (CCD) phenomenon (Cox-Foster et al 2007;Martín-Hernández et al 2007;Higes et al 2008Higes et al , 2009vanEngelsdorp et al 2009). Fumagilin-B ® is the only currently available registered chemotherapy available to treat nosema disease in North America (Williams et al 2011) and is reportedly allowed for use in special circumstances in Spain, the Balkans, and other parts of Europe (Stevanović et al 2013). The commercial products (Fumagilin-B ® and Fumidil-B ® ) both contain the therapeutic fumagillin as the dicyclohexylamine (DCH) salt.…”