Diseases of bees / Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.

Date:
1948
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Diseases of bees / Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    DISEASES OF BEES BROOD DISEASES The brood of the honeybee, during its development from the egg to the transformation of the pupa, is subject to a variety of diseases, all of which have a weakening effect on the colony as a whole. The degree of weakening ranges from the loss of a small proportion of the total population of the hive, in a mild attack of Chalk Brood, for example, to the complete collapse and eventual death of the colony in the case of an infection with American Foul Brood. This disease’ in particular is responsible for considerable losses to bee-keepers every year, and a single neglected case may become a source of infection for any other bees which are kept in the neighbourhood. It is therefore very desirable that every bee-keeper should have a working knowledge of the main features of the more common brood diseases and that he should at least be able to distinguish between healthy and diseased brood, even if he cannot make a diagnosis of the precise cause of the trouble without expert help. A careful inspection of the brood should be made during all manipulations involving the removal of combs from the hive, or their rearrangement. A casual glance at the amount of brood present is not enough and both the sealed and the unsealed cells should receive their share of attention. If anything suspicious is seen it should be investigated at once, since failure to do so may result in the spread of disease to other colonies in the same apiary or to neighbouring apiaries. It is necessary to point out, however, that the first signs of a brood disease are not easily detected except at close quarters, especially if the combs are old and dark in colour, and bee-keepers who require spectacles for reading purposes should not neglect to use them under the bee-veil when making an examination of the brood chamber. ' FOUL BROOD The term ‘‘ Foul Brood ’’ includes two bacterial diseases of the honeybee, one known as American Foul Brood, and the other as European Foul Brood. The names bear no relation either to the origin or to the geographical distribution of the two diseases; they came into use after research work in America had shown that the bacteriology of the “‘ Foul Brood ’’ then being investigated there differed from that which had been described from another case of ‘‘ Foul Brood ’’ investigated some years earlier in England. American Foul Brood is the most widespread and the most destructive of the brood diseases which occur in Great Britain. Cases have been reported from all the counties of England and Wales (including the Isle of Wight), from parts of Scotland, and also from Northern Ireland and Eire. It is particularly prevalent in the south and south-west of England, in the South- east and in the West Midlands. ‘The full incidence of the disease is, however, not yet known, and wherever bees are kept the bee-keeper should be on his guard against the spread of American Foul Brood from undiscovered cases nearby, or from infection imported into his locality from elsewhere. European Foul Brood is less common, but where it does occur it often spreads rapidly throughout the apiary, and for this reason may prove difficult to eradicate even when control measures are applied promptly and energetically.
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