Chalkbrood - Status Today and Hopes for Control' - Golden Rule Honey

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Figure 5,3. Chalkbrood mummie_s.. Initiaily thedead rarvae remain white; they are
entirely permeated by the vegetative hyphae of Ascosphneya apii- s."u"i'roorurition
occurs later and causes the larvae to take a characteristic dari or black colcr. (photo
by D. M. Menapace)
also suggested that Ascasphoera npis might survive in soir, find
its way into the food chain of honey bees, and be transrnitted to
larvae via contaminated brood food.
,A'lthough the ability of infection to spread is probably low (Bailey
1963), the spores are quite resistantlnd remain inflctive for at
least 15 years (Toumanoff 1951). Maurizio (1994) and Betts (1951)
thought that the disease was probably carriecl by honey, and therefore,
one should avoid feeding honey from infected colonies.
Maurizio (1934) found the fungus in the intestines of bees from an
infected colony and stated that the organism winterecl in bees and
in honey. De Jong and Morse (7926) found Ascosplwern apis in the
honey sac contents of adult worker bees from infected colonies
and shorl'ed that spores were passed from bee to bee in food
exchange. They also repoited that queen bees could transmit the
disease. The results of Mehr, Menapace, Wilson, and Sackett
(1976) suggested that the disease mighi be carried by pollen. How_
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