Sensitivity Assessment for Paenibacillus larvae detection: a Comparison of Yard and Barrel Sampling Methods
Date
2025-05-01
Authors
Enadeghe, Rosephine
Lopez-Neto, Belarmino
Obshta, Oleksii
de Silva, Marina Bezerra
Camilli, Marcelo Polizel
Raza, Fahim
de Silva, Marina Bezerra
Jose, Midhun Sebastian
Edirithilake, Thanuri
Tregobov, J.
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The 2025 Life & Health Sciences Research Expo, University of Saskatchewan
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Poster Presentation
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Abstract
BACKGROUND:
American Foulbrood (AFB), caused by the spore-forming bacterium Paenibacillus larvae, continues to pose a significant threat to honeybee populations. Traditional detection methods for AFB rely heavily on observation of clinical signs and evaluation of adult bees, honey samples and hive debris collected from individual hives for risk assessment. Accordingly this may not be feasible for large commercial operations which consequently rely on indiscriminate antibiotic metaphylaxis to control AFB thus a need for herd medicine. Our Objective was to assess P. larvae spore concentrations in honey samples from yard-level honey extraction and 5th barrel sampling (300 kg of honey) extraction processes and compared spore concentrations/sensitivity. We hypothesize that honey samples collected from every 5th barrel during honey barreling process are more representative samples for determination of AFB spore concentrations at an operation level.
METHODS: A total of 212 honey samples collected from Yard (n=125) and 5th barrel (n=87) extraction were analyzed using microscopy-based and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) techniques.
RESULTS: Data from this study demonstrates that sampling every 5th Barrel of honey seem to be more representative and sensitive for P. larvae detection while Samples from yard extraction reveal low concentration of P. larvae spores <100 spores/g.
CONCLUSION: Bulk sampling from 5th barrel holding tanks collection may offer a more integrative and convenient approach for commercial beekeepers and large scale AFB surveillance, however linking samples to a specific yard may be a challenge
Description
Attribution 4.0 International
Keywords
Paenibacillus larvae, commercial operations, metaphylaxis, Yard extraction, 5th Barrel extraction
Citation
Enadeghe, R., Neto, B. E. L., Bezerra da Silva, M. C., Jose, M. S., Edirithilake, T. L. K., Tellarini, E. E., Raza, M. F., Camilli, M. P., Neto, B. E. L., Tregobov, J., Obshta, O., Moshynskyy, I., Wood, S. C., & Simko, E. (2025, March). Sensitivity assessment of Paenibacillus larvae detection: A comparison of Yard and Barrel sampling method [Poster presentation]. The 2025 Life & Health Sciences Research Expo, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada.
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The 2025 Life & Health Sciences Research Expo