Abstract
ONE of the most notorious of protozoan parasites at the present time is the microsporidian Nosema apis, which, since the well-known researches of Drs. H. B. Fantham and Annie Porter in 1912, has been generally regarded as the cause of “Isle of Wight disease” in hive-bees. In the Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh (vol. xx., part i) two papers have lately appeared in which this conclusion is called in question—one by John Anderson, the other by the same author in collaboration with Dr. John Rennie. Stress is laid on the possibility of bees heavily infested with Nosema showing no symptoms of the disease; this condition was recognised by Fantham and Porter, who attributed it to immunity in certain strains, and directed attention to the danger caused to other bees by such “carriers.” On the other hand, an epidemic of disease among bees on Deeside with all the characteristic “Isle of Wight” symptoms appeared to be unaccompanied by any trace of Nosema in the affected insects. It may, of course, be retorted that the parasites were present in inconspicuous stages and in relatively small numbers, as Fantham and Porter concluded to be the case in similar instances observed by them. Anderson and Rennie, however, “are unable to recognise any causal relation between the presence of this parasite and the disease,” though it “may be a contributing weakening factor favouring in certain cases the development of the disease.” It may be doubted if the authors sufficiently recognise the possibly deadly effects, on certain strains of bees; of parasites so few in number as to escape observation.
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Recent Papers on Parasites . Nature 98, 439 (1917). https://doi.org/10.1038/098439a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/098439a0