Isle beekeepers warned of disease

State agricultural officials are warning Hawaii’s beekeepers to keep an eye out for the re-emergence of a destructive bee disease that once wiped out much of the islands’ honeybee population.

Officials with the state Department of Agriculture said Wednesday that a disease known as American foulbrood, or AFB, was found this week in a beehive in Kula, Maui. That find was preceded last year by the discovery of several hives infected with the disease on Oahu and Hawaii island.

“It’s a very serious disease,” said Lauren Rusert, the department’s Apiary Section chief.

The highly infectious AFB bacterium kills bee larvae and almost always results in the death of a colony, officials said. In addition, the spores of the disease may live more than 80 years, Rusert said.

“Beekeepers around the state should be vigilant in inspecting their hives for signs of this disease,” John McHugh, administrator of the Agriculture Department’s Plant Industry Division, said in a news release.

With the bacterium that causes the disease resistant to most antibiotics, heat and disinfectants, the only way to control an AFB infection is to burn and destroy the hive, officials said.

With a total of about 20,000 colonies statewide, there are 330 beekeepers registered with the division’s apiary program, Rusert said. She added, however, that there could be two to three times as many beekeepers and bees in the state.

Beekeeping is both a hobby and an industry. Rusert said Hawaii’s $2.8 million honey industry produced 102 pounds of honey per hive in 2015, generating the highest yield per hive in the country. What’s more, Hawaii’s queen bee production reached $10 million, a worldwide standard, she said.

Hawaii’s honeybee population was nearly wiped out in the 1930s by an outbreak of AFB. Rusert said thousands of colonies were destroyed, and it took island beekeepers 20 years to rebound.

“It’s extremely devastating,” Rusert said. “It’s always good to do prevention measures.”

Anthony Maxfield, president of the Hawai‘i Beekeepers’ Association, said he hasn’t seen AFB yet, nor does he know anyone with hives infected with the disease.

But the Haleiwa beekeeper said he’s well aware it’s a serious disease and it’s best that beekeepers keep on top of it.

AFB symptoms include dark and moist honeybee cells that often smell of decaying animals. “The dying larva inside the cells shrink and the normal convex capping becomes concave. The pattern on an infected bee frame will look spotty because of a mixture of disease and healthy brood cells,” according to a flier warning of the disease.

Rusert said the honey in an infected colony can become contaminated with spores and be a source of infection for bees that ingest it. Robber bees are also known to take contaminated honey back to their own colony, which continues the cycle of infection. Drifting or swarming bees from an infected colony will also spread the disease.

Even a beekeeper can spread the disease by moving contaminated comb, honey or equipment. It is illegal to import used beekeeping equipment into Hawaii or to transport it interisland without an inspection and permit from the state Agriculture Department, officials said.

Beekeepers can contact the Hawaii Apiary Program in Hilo for more information at 808-339-1977.