Reporting Foulbrood

Bees can experience a variety of diseases, but the ones with the most impact to bees and beekeepers are brood diseases. These can range from the relatively mild such as chalkbrood, all the way to foulbrood, which can be devastating, not just to one colony, as it can affect a whole apiary or even wider.
Foulbrood (both European and American) is a statutory notifiable disease, and so beekeepers are legally obligated to report any suspected diseased colonies under the Bee Diseases and Pests Control Order 2006 (as amended). This is done by contacting either the NBU or one of your local bee inspectors.

Recognising Foulbrood

The National Bee Unit produces an excellent brochure on EFB and AFB, including how to recognise it.
You can find that brochure here.

In 2019 we are putting the spotlight on EFB and are re-doubling our efforts to encourage all beekeepers to check their brood for symptoms throughout the season.
To assist us, our Education Officer Richard Bache MB has written a SBKA EFB leaflet which starts with the impact of EFB in Somerset (see left). He looks at the cause, prevention, signs, diagnosis and management of EFB through informative text and an excellent series of photos he has taken himself. [see left]

SBKA Council in September 2019 decided to commit £2,000 for three years to a PhD research project which should help us to understand EFB better and give us some insight into the Somerset strain. Our contribution will be matched by BDI and FERA will fund the remainder.
You may be interested in Kirsty Stainton's lecture at the 2018 National Honey Show which shows how strong ST2 is in Somerset. The slide on treatment success is interesting as it suggests destruction of ST2.
Click here to take a look:
nhs_bdi_lecture_oct_2018_2_.pdf