Author(s):
Pires, Sância 
; Murilhas, António ; Russo, Paulo ; Valério, Maria ; Gonçalves, Manuel
Date: 2013
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10198/9174
Origin: Biblioteca Digital do IPB
Subject(s): Nosema; Beekeeping; Portugal
Description
Nosemosis is not a recent pathology in Portugal. The etiological agent traditionally associated with it, the microsporidian Nosema apis, is well
characterized and was not causing considerable economic damage to the Portuguese apiculture. However, the recent arrival, to the ‘European’
honeybee sphere, of a ‘new’ Nosema species (N. ceranae) has been recurrently considered a relevant contribution to the ‘Colony Colapse
Disorder’ (CCD) and its potential to be a ‘game changer’ across the Iberian peninsula has justified the present study in Portugal.
Therefore, a nationwide field sampling exercise was launched in 2011, to address mounting anecdotal evidence of atypically high honey bee
colony mortalities of unexplained origin occurring throughout Portugal. The first approach was to contact 662 beekeepers (≈ 4% of the
registered Portuguese beekeepers), via telephone interviews, with a view to formulating an 'educated guess' regarding the cases where N. apis /
N. ceranae seemed more likely to have had a role in colony mortality/morbidity. This study appears in the context of a project submitted by
FNAP Measure 6A National Beekeeping Program (under EU Regulations No. 917/2004, No. 797/2004 and No. 1234/2007), in partnership with
research institutions of the authors, under coordination of Prof. Sância Pires.
