Fall Treatment with Fumagillin Contributes to an Overwinter Shift in Vairimorpha Species Prevalence in Honey Bee Colonies in Western Canada.

(1) Background: Microsporidiosis (nosemosis) is an intestinal disorder of adult honey bees caused by the microsporidian pathogens Vairimorpha apis and Vairimorpha ceranae. In Canada, fumagillin is an approved antibiotic used to treat this disease. However, the recommended dosage is based on efficacy studies for V. apis, the native pathogen in European honey bees. Since the detection of V. ceranae in Apis mellifera, V. ceranae became more prevalent in managed European honey bees and seems to have replaced V. apis due to yet unknown reasons. (2) Methods: This colony study investigated the efficacy of fumagillin administered in the fall to colonies infected with both V. apis and V. ceranae and its effects on the Vairimorpha species' prevalence overwinter. Spore loads in control and fumagillin-treated colonies were analysed by microscopy; Vairimorpha species prevalence was determined molecularly and infection and treatment effects on colony productivity were assessed. (3) Results: Fall fumagillin treatment was associated with a temporary reduction in spore load, but there was no difference in spore loads between treated and control colonies the following spring. Interestingly, fumagillin-treated colonies had a significantly greater prevalence of V. ceranae relative to V. apis the following spring, suggesting fumagillin is less effective in controlling V. ceranae.

Comparison of individual and pooled sampling methods for estimation of Vairimorpha (Nosema) spp. levels in experimentally infected honey bee colonies.

The microsporidian pathogens Vairimorpha apis and V. ceranae are known to cause intestinal infection in honey bees and are associated with decreased colony productivity and colony loss. The widely accepted method for determining Vairimorpha colony infection level for risk assessment and antibiotic treatment is based on spore counts of 60 pooled worker bees using light microscopy. Given that honey bee colonies consist of as many as 1,000 times more individuals, the number of bees collected for Vairimorpha detection may significantly impact the estimated colony infection level, especially in the case of uneven distribution of high- and low-infected individuals within a hive. Hence, we compared the frequency and severity of Vairimorpha infection in individual bees to pooled samples of 60, 120, and 180 bees, as well as compared the Vairimorpha spp. prevalence in pooled samples of 60 and 180 bees. Overall, we did not find significant differences in spore counts in pooled samples containing incremental numbers of bees, although we observed that, in less-infected colonies, a low frequency of highly infected individuals influenced the estimated colony infection level. Moreover, Vairimorpha spp. prevalence did not differ significantly among the pooled bee samples tested. Increasing the number of pooled bees from the recommended 60 bees to 180 bees did not yield a more accurate representation of colony infection level for highly infected colonies, but the clinical importance of a low frequency of highly infected individuals in less-infected colonies needs to be addressed in future studies.