The contamination of winter stores and early spring honey with spores of Paenibacillus larvae larvae in Polish apiaries of the Małopolska province.
We analysed 251 early spring and winter storage honey samples, individually collected from the apiaries of 9 districts of Malopołska province in South Poland and revealed that 51 of these specimens were contaminated with different levels of P. larvae larvae spores Among these samples 8.8% were classified as a category I contamination and 11.5% as a category II--reperesenting 22 (43.1%) and 29 (56.9%) of the total positives, respectively. We conclude from these analyses that: (1)--the total number of new outbreaks of AFB in Poland are most likely to be higher than previously reported, (2)--the quantitative examination of samples of winter stored or early spring honeys for the presence of P. larvae, larvae spores can improve the detection rate of AFB outbreaks, (3)--the high percentage of apiaries that were found to be free of P. larvae larvae (80%) may facilitate the implementation of an AFB eradication programme on a large scale in Poland.
Lipiński
Z
Z
Specialist Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory Biolab, Grunwaldzka 62, 14-100 Ostróda, Poland. Lipinski@sprint.com.pl
Szubstarski
J
J
Szubstarska
D
D
Kasztelewicz
J
J
D000818:Animals; D001406:Bacillaceae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001516:Bees / Q000382:microbiology*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000662:veterinary*; D016908:Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000662:veterinary*; D006722:Honey / Q000382:microbiology*; D011044:Poland / Q000453:epidemiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D012621:Seasons
D004269:DNA, Bacterial