Free Access
| Issue |
Apidologie
Volume 23, Number 5, 1992
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|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 393 - 397 | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/apido:19920501 | |
Apidologie 23 (1992) 393-397
DOI: 10.1051/apido:19920501
a Ministry of Agriculture, Veterinary Station, 63100 Poligiros, Khalkidiki, Greece
b Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, 54006 Thessaloniki, Greece
Key words: Pseudomonas aeruginosa / septicaemia / experimental infection / haemolymph / individual variability
DOI: 10.1051/apido:19920501
Experimental infection of honeybees by Pseudomonas aeruginosa
K. Papadopoulou-Karabelaa, N. Iliadisb, V. Liakosb and E. Bourdzy-Hatzopoulouba Ministry of Agriculture, Veterinary Station, 63100 Poligiros, Khalkidiki, Greece
b Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, 54006 Thessaloniki, Greece
Abstract - Honeybees kept in cages were experimentally infected by dipping in a bacterial suspension of Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27014 (P apiseptica) known to cause septicaemia. The concentration of the bacterial suspension was ca 5 x 109 CFU per ml saline. The highest mortality rate (66.8%) was observed 10-50 h after infection. The number of bacteria isolated in the haemolymph of diseased honeybees was ca 106-109 CFU per ml haemolymph. Between the 10th and the 50th h, it was found that the mean concentration of viable bacteria in the haemolymph in bees which showed clinical symptoms of infection varied significantly at different 10-h-intervals after infection.
Key words: Pseudomonas aeruginosa / septicaemia / experimental infection / haemolymph / individual variability