Note prepared by the EU RL for Bee Health (Laboratory of  Anses Sophia Antipolis)

Updated news (26^th. July 2019)

To see the details of the outbreaks observed in 2018, please click here. 

The 18^th. June 2019, one case of infestation by A. tumida was confirmed in Eastern Sicily, in an apiary located in the municipality of Lentini, in the province of Syracusa (Figure 1 & Table 1). Two adults of SHB were detected in two different colonies.

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Figure 1: The protection zone of A. tumida in Sicily (dated from 18^th. July 2019)

Table 1: "Table of positive cases of SHB" (dated from 18^th. July 2019)

 

This apiary was under surveillance since May 2019. On 2^nd. May, the authorities intercepted a movement of 64 colonies without any accompanying document at the port of Villa San Giovanni (located on the Calabrian coast). The colonies were sent back to the apiary of origin in Lentini. Several controls were subsequently carried out in this apiary to confirm the absence of A. tumida. During a control, 13 colonies of unknown origin were discovered and SHB was detected in two of them. Epidemiological investigations showed that these 13 colonies were stolen on 9^th. June in the protection zone of Reggio di Calabria (located on the continent).

 

Aethina tumida was only detected once in Sicily prior to this outbreak, on 7^th. November 2014. SHB adults were detected in a migratory apiary in the municipality of Melilli, located approximately 35 km away from Lentini. At the time, the epidemiological investigation had shown that the colonies were present in Gioia Tauro between April and August 2014. Gioia Tauro is the municipality of the Calabria region where the first detection of SHB appeared. Following this outbreak, surveillance was carried out every year onwards with investigations in selected apiaries and sentinel apiaries.

No new case being discovered in the two years following this detection, the Commission Implementing decision (EU) 2017/370 of 1^st. March 2017 had removed Sicily from the list of areas subject to protective measures in relation to SHB in Italy.

 

A phylogenetic analysis was carried out on the specimens detected in June 2019. The results showed that the genetic profile of the specimens was similar to the one of other specimens previously isolated in the Calabria region but different from the genetic profile of the specimens isolated in the previous outbreak confirmed in Sicily in November 2014. It confirms that the outbreak is due to an illegal movement of colonies from the protection zone of Reggio di Calabria and not a consequence of a diffusion of SHB in the environment.

 

The positive apiary was totally destroyed on 23^rd. June 2019. The soil was treated with a permethrin solution. A protection zone of 5 km radius around the case was set up. Inspections are undergoing in the 54 apiaries registered in the protection zone.

 

No new outbreaks have been reported in the protection zone of Reggio di Calabria (Figure 3) since November 2018 and the last detection in a sentinel apiary (see here).

No new outbreaks have been reported in the province of Cosenza (situated in the North of Calabria) since September 2016 (Figure 4).

It has to be noted that surveillance is ongoing in Italy and not all the scheduled inspections have been done and reported for the moment.

 

References:

- Website of the Italian National Reference Laboratory (NRL) on Honey Bee Health: http://www.izsvenezie.it/aethina-tumida-in-italia/

- Presentation of the General Directorate for animal health and veterinarian drugs of the Italian Ministry of Health at the Standing commitee on plants, animals, food and feed, Animal Health and Welfare, 8-9 July 2019: “Small hive beetle outbreak in Sicily Region”

- COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION (EU) 2017/370 of 1 March 2017 amending Commission Implementing Decision 2014/909/EU by extending the period of application of certain protective measures and amending the list of areas subject to protective measures in relation to small hive beetle in Italy

 

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Figure 2: The 100 km surveillance of A. tumida in Calabria and Sicily (dated from 18^th. July 2019)

 

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Figure 3: The 30 km protection zone for monitoring A. tumida in Calabria (dated from 18^th. July 2019)

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Figure 4: The 10 km protection zone for monitoring A. tumida in Cosenza (dated from 18^th. July 2019)