There’s been a new development in the saga of the humble honeybee, about which we’ve been reporting for a year almost to the day at Where Have All the Honeybees Gone?. We’ve focused on the mysterious syndrome known as Colony Collapse Disorder. CCD manifests with all but a hundred or so bees simply disappearing from the hive.

The New England connection is that CCD started on Cape Cod.

But, there’s a new problem according to ProMed, a Harvard University newsletter that covers emerging diseases. At least four South African beekeepers have been victimized by Foul Brood, a disease that can cause so much harm that the entire hive, bees, honey and removable frames et al must be burned and the ashes buried!

Brood comprises the egg, larva and the pupa phases in the life of bees. When Foul Brood is present, according to ProMed, is smells like “stale beer” and “old boots.” In addition, the brood appear “sunken” and the larvae are “coffee-colored.”

ProMed points out that if a Foul Brood outbreak is severe enough, entire affected colonies can collapse and die.

The South Africans irradiate honey and honeybee products before they enter the country. That it has hit the hives it has is a complete mystery. South African scientists conjecture that somehow non-irradiated honey and/or bee products made their way through the safety net.

At first, it was thought to have been European in origin, which had been the case in 2008. But they have since determined it came from America.

Inevitably, one has to wonder what this may have to do, if anything, with Colony Collapse Disorder here in the states.

Like CCD, American Foul Brood (AFB) is a huge threat to apiaries. South Africa, like the U.S., relies heavily on honeybees for pollination.  That’s why they go to such lengths as irradiation to keep apiaries as disease free as possible.

However, if my theory about CCD is correct (i.e., that our attempts to breed the aggression out of Africanized honeybees by mating them with domestic bees went awry), could the result be the sudden appearance of AFB in South Africa?

There are differences between the two disorders. CCD involves the disappearance of most of the hive. AFB makes the bees in the hive more susceptible to diseases, but the colony does not disappear.

South African scientists, like our entomologists, are now wrangling with a problem of mysterious origin that could devastate beehives in an ever-widening pattern. 

We’ll keep you posted on developments.

Related posts:

1. Where Have All the Honeybees Gone?
2. The New England Honeybee Scare…