2 Nosema species have been identified in England and Wales, Nosema apis and Nosema ceranae (the Asian species). They are parasitic microsporidian fungal pathogens, that attack the digestive system of a honey bee. The easiest way of testing for Nosema is microscopic examination, something my brother and i spent a lot of time doing in our childhood with my father as he was a histologist (imagine my excitement when i found out there is an entire course in microscopy for Beekeeping). Taking a sample of 30 bees (by taking 30 you stand a higher chance of finding Nosema if you’re hive is infected). Dissecting the abdomen from the thorax and placing the abdomens in a bowl with a small amount of water (discard the thorax) thoroughly crush the abdomens into the water, take a sample from the bowl with a pipette and place a drop on to a clean glass slide and place a coverslip on top. It's now ready to put under the microscope, you are looking for fine “rice” like grains (as seen in the last picture).
I apologise for the poor quality these are stills from videos, the videos can be found here https://instagram.com/anniebeasbeekeeping Nosema is another example of the struggles our bees have to go through without the added pressure of chemicals and loss of habitat
Comentários