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Honey Bee Diseases, Parasites and Afflictions

There are many diseases to which honey bees can succumb, some of which are serious and require notification of the relevant authorities.

Some honey bee afflictions are less serious and can be treated or dealt with by the beekeeper themselves.

Some afflictions are sometimes wrongly called "disease" notably infestations of parasitic mites. Wrongly termed or not they are still very damaging to the bees and the beekeeper's workload and require awareness and some knowledge to diagnose and treat.

The links at left on this page are not definitive sources of information. There is much information about honey bee problems and diseases already on the web Defra is handy for UK beekeepers. In USA there is a similar organisation USDA, but many of the American universities have very informative websites about honey bee diseases and parasites.

This page provides a collating point for odd snippets of information that may not yet be in the mainstream, and in some respects may be conjectural.

If you have any morsels of information that might be useful to others, please Email me, using the button at page bottom, so that I can record them here.

Whatever country you reside in, It is wise to acquaint yourself with the honey bee diseases that are likely to be present or common in you area. Along with familiarising yourself with the diseases and parasites themselves, you should also establish the legal liabilities and responsibilities that you may have in the reportage of outbreaks of honey bee diseases.

Depending on what country you live in you may be able to call upon state sponsored beekeeping inspectors, that can help identify and in some cases help to treat the problem. However although this was commonplace up until a decade or so ago, it is now more difficult to find such assistance as government funding is progressively withdrawn and support from local government in the form of 'bees officers' has long since been dropped.