Apicultural Information and Issues S Apis Propolis Price Increases Water Crisis in Florida Bees and Genes Fumagillin: the Material That Controls Nosema Apis -1

A discussion of the antibiotic used to control Nosema apis. Page 1. Is this value-added product one whose time has come? Page 2. Bee problems might increase as these insects compete for water in the Sunshine State. Page 2. Brazil Honey types are proliferating in this large South American country. Honey bees are perfect for the study of sociogenomics. Page 4. 1 contains an article by Heather Clay on fumagillin's manufacture and use. This antibiotic is used to control nosema disease, called a " silent killer, " which is often ignored by beekeepers 2 in spite of evidence that it affects colony productivity 3. However, Ms. Clay says current marketing information suggests that in the United States, use of the material has increased because nosema disease (Nosema apis) is being more recognized as an added stress on colonies that also have parasitic mites. According to Ms. Clay, the Canadian supply of fumagillin is produced in Highriver, Alberta, by Medivet and marketed as Fumagilin B®. She quotes Willie Baumgartner, Medivet's owner, that fumagillin was originally patented by Upjohn, a pharmaceutical company (now apparently part of Pharmacia 4), in 1953. Since it had no apparent value for humans, it was not kept, and in 1957 Abbott Labs 5 patented a product called Fumadil-B® for treatment. The Hungarian company Chinoin infringed on the patent rights, but Abbott chose to use the company as a source of the material, rather than pursue patent infringement. edivet developed an improved product that was more soluble, called Fumagilin B, in the 1980s, according to Ms. Clay. Chinoin was purchased by the French company Sunofi, according to Mr. Baumgartner 6 , and later improved the fermentation technology and moved production from Hungary to India. Sunofi has given additional markets to Medivet, which now supplies the is the main source and sole national and international distributor for Fumidil-B®, according to its catalog 7. Other suppliers market the product under Mid-Con's name. Ms. Clay concludes that a long list of drugs has been tested for treatment of nosema but so far nothing works as well as fumagillin, and the good news is that there has been no reported drug resistance of Nosema apis to the material. 8 , the antibiotic fumagillin kills the active stages of nosema, but not the spores, and its effect diminishes over time. Continued page 4