American Foulbrood Hitting South African Bee Colonies - First Outbreak In 150 Years

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The outbreak of American Foulbrood (AFB) was fast spreading through the Western Cape since the disease was first spotted in February, he warned. "It started as a very limited outbreak but now it has spread." The notifiable disease is caused by the spore-forming bacterium Paenibacillus larvae and is the most serious infectious disease of honey bees.

"It spreads through spores which invade beehives. It is a disease which affects the babies in the beehives and then the bees can't hatch as normal," said Moodie. The outbreak is likely to affect honey production and - more importantly - the deciduous fruit export market which relies on bees for the pollination of its fruit, said Moodie. "The biggest worry is the effect on agriculture."

The disease, which was last seen in South Africa 150 years ago, was probably brought to the country through illegally imported honey contaminated with the spores, he said. Moodie said the government needed to act fast to contain the disease.

"There are complexities, there's been an election, but really, this is an outbreak of significance. This is terribly important." He said emergency legislation needed to be passed in order to place infected beehives under quarantine and to test beehives and honey for the spores.

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