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Diseases of Asian Honeybees

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Honeybees of Asia

Abstract

Diseases of Asian honeybee species are largely an unexplored field. The low number of recorded pathogens probably reflects lack of investigation, and that feral populations of honeybees tend to have fewer disease problems than that of managed populations. Only two pathogens, possibly three, are reported to cause losses of colonies of Apis cerana. Thai sacbrood, a viral disease affecting the brood, is the most serious. European foulbrood, a bacterial brood disease, may also cause colony losses in A. cerana. Nosema ceranae, a fungal pathogen of adult A. cerana, is common, but may on occasion also induce colony losses. The pathogens mentioned are probably infective across all Asian honeybee species. More research on pathogens from Asian honeybee species is warranted to prevent losses from disease in these bees and to identify possible threats from the interspecific transmission of pathogens.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, 750 07, Sweden

    Ingemar Fries

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  1. Ingemar Fries
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Correspondence to Ingemar Fries .

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  1. , Department of Zoology and Entomology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, 6140, South Africa

    H. Randall Hepburn

  2. , Department of Statistics, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, 6140, South Africa

    Sarah E. Radloff

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Fries, I. (2011). Diseases of Asian Honeybees. In: Hepburn, H., Radloff, S. (eds) Honeybees of Asia. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-16422-4_15

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