Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: The Honey Bee as a Social Animal Model.

Animal models have been essential for advancing research of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) in humans, but few animal species effectively replicate the behavioural and clinical signs of FASD. The honey bee () is a previously unexplored research model for FASD that offers the distinct benefit of highly social behaviour. In this study, we chronically exposed honey bee larvae to incremental concentrations of 0, 3, 6, and 10% ethanol in the larval diet using an in vitro rearing protocol and measured developmental time and survival to adult eclosion, as well as body weight and motor activity of newly emerged adult bees.

Fall Treatment with Fumagillin Contributes to an Overwinter Shift in Species Prevalence in Honey Bee Colonies in Western Canada.

(1) Background: Microsporidiosis (nosemosis) is an intestinal disorder of adult honey bees caused by the microsporidian pathogens and In Canada, fumagillin is an approved antibiotic used to treat this disease. However, the recommended dosage is based on efficacy studies for , the native pathogen in European honey bees. Since the detection of in , became more prevalent in managed European honey bees and seems to have replaced due to yet unknown reasons.

Oxytetracycline-resistant identified in commercial beekeeping operations in Saskatchewan using pooled honey sampling.

American foulbrood (AFB) is an infectious disease of honey bee brood caused by the endospore-forming bacterium spores are resilient in the environment, thus colonies with clinical signs of AFB are often destroyed by burning to eradicate the causative agent. To prevent outbreaks of AFB, oxytetracycline metaphylaxis is widely used in North America, resulting in sustained selective pressure for oxytetracycline resistance in . To determine if antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is present among isolates from commercial beekeeping operations in Saskatchewan, Canada, we performed antimicrobial susceptibility testing of 718 samples cultured from pooled, extracted honey collected from 52 beekeepers over a 2-y period, 2019 and 2020.

Comparison of individual and pooled sampling methods for estimation of () spp. levels in experimentally infected honey bee colonies.

The microsporidian pathogens and are known to cause intestinal infection in honey bees and are associated with decreased colony productivity and colony loss. The widely accepted method for determining colony infection level for risk assessment and antibiotic treatment is based on spore counts of 60 pooled worker bees using light microscopy. Given that honey bee colonies consist of as many as 1,000 times more individuals, the number of bees collected for detection may significantly impact the estimated colony infection level, especially in the case of uneven distribution of high- and low-infected individuals within a hive.

Investigation of isolates from 3 outbreaks of European foulbrood disease in commercial beekeeping operations in western Canada.

European foulbrood (EFB) disease is an economically important bacterial disease of honey bee larvae caused by enteric infection with . In this study, we investigated 3 clinical outbreaks of EFB disease in commercial beekeeping operations in western Canada in the summer of 2020 and characterized the isolates cultured from these outbreaks according to genetic multi-locus sequence type and larval pathogenicity. We isolated sequence type 19 from EFB outbreaks in British Columbia and Alberta, and a novel sequence type 36 from an EFB outbreak in Saskatchewan.

Establishment of apiary-level risk of American foulbrood through the detection of Paenibacillus larvae spores in pooled, extracted honey in Saskatchewan.

Paenibacillus larvae, the causative agent of American foulbrood (AFB), produces spores that may be detectable within honey. We analyzed the spore content of pooled, extracted honey from 52 large-scale (L) and 64 small-scale (S) Saskatchewan beekeepers over a two-year period (2019-2020). Our objectives were: (i) establish reliable prognostic reference ranges for spore concentrations in extracted honey to determine future AFB risk at the apiary level; (ii) identify management practices as targets for mitigation of risk.

Evaluating approved and alternative treatments against an oxytetracycline-resistant bacterium responsible for European foulbrood disease in honey bees.

European foulbrood (EFB) is a disease of honey bee larvae caused by Melissococcus plutonius. In North America, oxytetracycline (OTC) is approved to combat EFB disease though tylosin (TYL) and lincomycin (LMC) are also registered for use against American foulbrood disease. Herein, we report and characterize an OTC-resistant M.

Comparison of individual hive and apiary-level sample types for spores of Paenibacillus larvae in Saskatchewan honey bee operations.

Three commercial honey bee operations in Saskatchewan, Canada, with outbreaks of American foulbrood (AFB) and recent or ongoing metaphylactic antibiotic use were intensively sampled to detect spores of Paenibacillus larvae during the summer of 2019. Here, we compared spore concentrations in different sample types within individual hives, assessed the surrogacy potential of honey collected from honey supers in place of brood chamber honey or adult bees within hives, and evaluated the ability of pooled, extracted honey to predict the degree of spore contamination identified through individual hive testing. Samples of honey and bees from hives within apiaries with a recent, confirmed case of AFB in a single hive (index apiaries) and apiaries without clinical evidence of AFB (unaffected apiaries), as well as pooled, apiary-level honey samples from end-of-season extraction, were collected and cultured to detect and enumerate spores.