Journal for Veterinary Medicine, Biotechnology and Biosafety

Volume 10, Issue 3, September 2024, Pages 12–16

ISSN 2411-3174 (print version) ISSN 2411-0388 (online version)

INFECTIOUS DISEASES OF BEES AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE VITAL ACTIVITY AND HONEY PRODUCTIVITY OF HONEY BEE COLONIES IN UKRAINE

Sumakova N. V. 1, Sanin Yu. K. 1, Keleberda M. I. 1, Rudenko Ye. V. 1, Nikiforova O. V. 2

1 National Scientific Center ‘Institute of Experimental and Clinical Veterinary Medicine’, Kharkiv, Ukraine, e-mail: sumakova1962natali@gmail.com

2 State Biotechnological University, Kharkiv, Ukraine

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Citation for print version: Sumakova, N. V., Sanin, Yu. K., Keleberda, M. I., Rudenko, Ye. V. and Nikiforova, O. V. (2024) ‘Infectious diseases of bees and their impact on the vital activity and honey productivity of honey bee colonies in Ukraine’, Journal for Veterinary Medicine, Biotechnology and Biosafety, 10(3), pp. 12–16.

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Citation for online version: Sumakova, N. V., Sanin, Yu. K., Keleberda, M. I., Rudenko, Ye. V. and Nikiforova, O. V. (2024) ‘Infectious diseases of bees and their impact on the vital activity and honey productivity of honey bee colonies in Ukraine’, Journal for Veterinary Medicine, Biotechnology and Biosafety. [Online] 10(3), pp. 12–16. DOI: 10.36016/JVMBBS-2024-10-3-2.

Summary. The article presents the results of the study of the mass mortality of honey bee colonies in different apiaries from different regions of Ukraine. The epizootic status of 102 honey bee colonies was studied and 607 samples of pathological material were analyzed in 2021–2023. According to the results of the monitoring of the epizootic situation in Ukrainian beekeeping it was found that the share of parasitic diseases (54.4%, 74.0%, 69.3%) constantly prevails over infectious diseases. It was noted that the incidence of varroosis in honey bees (34.4%, 71.4%, 41.47%) remains the highest among other diseases. Against the background of severe damage to honey bee colonies by the Varroa mite, infectious diseases began to appear in an atypical form, which significantly complicates their differential diagnosis. A probable increase in the incidence of nosemosis in adult bees and the detection of Nosema cysts in the intestines of bees, both in spring and summer, and the detection of cysts in honey indicate the spread of another pathogen, Nosema cerana, which causes nosemosis in the summer season. The reason for the periodic mass death of bees in Ukraine is the combination of a high number of parasitic Varroa mites in the honey bee colony with the presence of bee infection with microsporidia Nosema spp. These pathogens negatively affect the immunity of the honey bee colony, and cause exacerbation of latent infections in bees, which leads to a decrease in the number of honey bee colonies, weakening their viability and reducing the quality of honey products

Keywords: parasitic diseases, mites, microsporidia, fungi, viruses, bacteria

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