New Bee Killer

 A possible Aha! Moment with honey bees. The ag community has been correctly concerned over the past few years with a syndrome called Colony Collapse Disorder which has devastated bee colonies. Obviously, outside the environmental impact of massive numbers of bees dying off are the concerns of farmers and crop pollination.

 Bill Ahaus, a commercial beekeeper and Secretary/Treasurer of the Idaho Honey Industry Association has postulated many reasons for the disaster: Huge number of very toxic pesticides that people use in their home gardens…they do kill bees. You mentioned the mites, that’s definitely been a big problem for the last several years. They attack the young bees in the larva stage.”

But now, US Department of Agriculture Scientists have sequenced the genome of another parasite they believe has been killing off honey bees. Nosema ceranae is one of many pathogens suspected of wiping out bee populations across the country.?  Nosema is a fungus-related microbe that produces spores that bees consume when they forage. Infection spreads from their digestive tract to other tissues and within weeks, colonies are either wiped out or lose much of their strength.  

Last year millions of colonies of honey bees disappeared by up to 90 percent. Idaho beekeepers reported losses but not as severe as other states.