Bees.jpg:
Beekeepers Louise Sullivan and Peter Richardson inspect hives in South Portland
in May while looking for evidence of a disease called foulbrood. Photo by Rich
Obrey
Inspectors find no new cases of destructive American foulbrood following a case
earlier this year in South Portland
REGION — It appears beekeepers can breath a little easier
with no new cases of American foulbrood detected since an infected hive was
found two months ago on Sawyer Street in South Portland.
According to Erin McGregor-Forbes of Portland,
president of the Maine Beekeepers Association, one other infected hive was
found in a Cape Elizabeth barn that was undergoing renovations. However, that
hive appears to have died prior to this season, she said, and was no longer
actively being robbed.
American foulbrood is a rod-shaped bacterium that feeds on
bee larvae less than three days old. Within two to three breeding cycles –
about six weeks – it can turn a once-vibrant hive into a crumbling corpse.
The disease spreads when bees from other hives rob the now-empty one,
inadvertently tracking up millions of microscopic spores during the raid.
McGregor-Forbes said Monday that most area
beekeepers have had their hives inspected by state apiarist Tony Jadczak and
his assistants. Only one other infected hive has been detected thus far, and
that one was in York County, near the New Hampshire border,
far outside the three-mile flight limit of bees.
“It’s still a very present issue and everyone
has to be very vigilant about it,” said McGregor-Forbes, “but the outbreak
seems to have simmered down a bit for now.”
Beekeeping is a backyard hobby on the rise in
recent years, but McGregor-Forbes says it’s important to resist the temptation
to employ used apiary tools, because foulbrood spores can live on them dormant
for more than 70 years.
“There is really no way to sterilize old tools
other than irradiation,” she said.
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