41st Annual Meeting of the Society for Invertebrate Pathology
and 9th International Conference on Bacillus thuringiensis

Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) was first recognized in 2006 in several beekeeping operations and presented symptoms previously not known.  Collapse of the colony occurred rapidly over a short time, with loss of most workers leaving behind the queen, a small number of newly emerged workers, and brood.  Analysis of remaining bees revealed large numbers of known pathogens in individual bees, without any one pathogen being linked to the symptoms.  This presentation will discuss the collaborative efforts to identify pathogens involved in CCD using a metagenomic analysis of bees taken colonies having identified CCD versus historical and healthy colonies. This analysis resulted in the identification of four pathogens that were strongly linked to CCD, the Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus, the Kashmir Bee Virus, Nosema ceranae, and Nosema apis.  Further examination of IAPV reveals that multiple lineages exist, with at least two being present in CCD colonies in the United States and Canada.  Additional studies will be described in which colonies were exposed to IAPV in containment greenhouses and symptoms observed.  Current questions will be discussed concerning the role of pathogens in Colony Collapse Disorder and bee health worldwide.