ABOUT
The health of managed colonies of western honey bees (Apis mellifera) is a topic of international concern given the importance of honey bees to crop pollination systems and the overall health of natural ecosystems. Honey bees host a suite of pests and pathogens, many of which are capable of killing colonies outright. Knowing the global distribution of these pests and pathogens is key to developing strategies for their control and limiting their spread further.
Nicola Bradbear (1988) and Andrew Matheson (1993, 1995, 1996) were first to publish reviews of the global distribution of honey bee pests and pathogens. Their work was updated several years later by Mark Allen and Brenda Ball (1996), who published information on virus incidence and world distribution, and by James Ellis and Pamela Munn (2005) who expanded, updated, and consolidated the earlier reviews.
In 2018-2019, Humberto Boncristiani and Jamie Ellis took the challenge to update the work once again and the result is the newly published review at the journal Bee World that you can get your pre-print copy HERE.
This website (worldhoneybeehealth.com) is our attempt to keep information on the worldwide distribution of honey bee pests and pathogens updated in real-time. It is our hope that this online resource will make a significant contribution to the study of honey bee health globally. We especially hope that this website will be a valuable tool to scientists, regulators, industry officials, beekeepers, and more as we all work together to improve the health of this invaluable bee species.