CCD and Beekeeper Health?

[Hal Mack]

Hi all, I am a 52 year old beekeeper with 25+ years experence. I am having some health issues. My doctors are having not much luck identifying the cause. With the attention on CCD as a virus. I am curious if by chance this virus crossed over and is contributing to my health issues? Have you as a beekeepers experenced health issues that are new to you with in the last 2-3 years?

[jrbbees]

Pose the question to CDC in Atlanta.

[sqkcrk]

No. What are your symptoms Hal?

[Countryboy]

The virus in CCD is INSECT iridescent virus. This is not the same thing as the human 'getting older' virus, which places stress on us humans and we start having other health issues we never had before.

I started keeping bees 3 years ago. In the past 3 years, I've gained 30+ pounds. My joints have also started creaking louder.

[sqkcrk]

Which you credit to beekeeping?

[Roland]

If you have a recently acquired symptom, and have ticks in your area, I would suspect a tick born disease before any bee born disease. I received a tick bite, had the bullseye, galloping joint pain, and was diagnosed as "clean". There are opinions that the bee venom masks certain chemicals that the tests are looking for, and can skew the conclusions drawn by a less that acute medical professional.

Roland

[Hal Mack]

All,

Thank you all for your in put.

Sqkcrk- Symptoms include shortness of breath, fatigue, body and headaches, lack of concentration, tired, with excessive sleep, and actually sleep (NOT toss and turn in bed) for up to 16 hours a day. Some days are better then others.

Just recently was admitted to the hospital for what was thought as a heart attack. EKG and other CAT scans showed heart working OK. I was kept in for 24hrs observation because a marker used for heart damage or lack of oxygen was off the charts. Some enzyme starting with Trop##### if I remember right. I don’t mean to scare anyone but have not been able to pinpoint the problem.

I may be getting old but I’m in **** good shape! 6’ 205 lbs healty in all respects till recently.

Roland- been tested for lime disease. Thank you for you suggestion.

Steve I use no chemicals at all. Thank you as well.

Logger Mike – Dead-out Mold can be an issue here that I will look into. I had lost 30 colonies this past year and had 23 +/- lost to CCD, 4 that froze and 3 that starved. The CCD hives had very few bees in them and not much mold. The other hives had plenty of bees and mold. Thank you and I will look into this further.

Please advise if any other beekeepers have issues with any of the above symptoms and or any other ideas.

Thanks again,

Hal

[ChristopherA]

I wasnt aware there was a known cause for CCD only assumed causes. Could someone educate me where they actually say it is absolutly caused by a virus.

I have read virus, fungi, chemical and so on, but no one has nail the nail in the coffin saying is was for sure virus. Thinking about it, if it was any of the factors virus, bacti, fungi or chemically related, how do we know there is no other factor that is causing it. Giving a bee a weak immune system, kind of like how HIV end up with AIDS which someone dies from another factor such as pneumonia.

Just want someone to enlighten me if there is something new out there that I missed?

Thank You

[wildbranch2007]

All,



Roland- been tested for lime disease. Thank you for you suggestion.

make sure that the lyme test was processed by quest diagnostics, a friend of mine was misdiagnosed for many years until he went to a specialist. one test confirmed that he had it, although the symtoms you have don't exactly match what he had. he couldn't get any sleep.

[coopermaple]

Hal MacK
We have a neighbor that has somewhat similar symptoms except not sure about the extra sleep. He spent 2 weeks in hospital recently with nothing diagnosed. They sent him home. Heart and all related came back fine. Family thinks it could be Lyme disease but test came back neg. He is not beekeeper but is active outdoors fishing, golf, camping, yard work etc. He is 60+/-. Can't walk 200' to mail box.
Hope they figure yours out soon.

[Roland]

I may not have been clear in my previous post. Wildbranch is confirming my view, that there may be something wrong with the testing, or that bee venom creates a false negative? Now that I am not getting stung every day, I can feel my foot that got bitten by a tick acting up. It will go away in Spring(the acting up, not the foot).

Roland

[Omie]

The symptoms make me think of Lyme disease as well. You might want a second test done, by a different lab.

[dthompson]

>they actually say it is absolutly caused by a virus.
Me. My hives,experience, and location make a good "data point"

My bees too have ccd (for 5 years now)
My health has deteriorated too, not so drastically,
I attribute it more to ageing. 1 handed typing sucks
Since I have devised a half-assed treatment for the bees
my level of angst about that has reduced
I feel the responsability for my friends/servents/slaves
despite the extra work

>30 colonies this past year and had 23 +/- lost to CCD
What percent WL (winter loss)
>The CCD hives had very few bees
1/2 to 1 cup?
>or any other ideas
Well like many virus IIV(6) is sensitive to VC (vitamin C)
The treatment is labour intensive
VC sometimes work on human virus too,
could be a treatment for you too, if your problem is viral

Hal, in the spring, summer when observing your bees
note if they do "funny" movements of their rear legs
I am convinced that 'rear-leg symptoms' are key to
positive/negative diagnosis
Still awaiting any confirmation/denial on that, hope you can help

I've written many post about ccd, here and elsewhere, search archives
Best of luck

dave

[Hal Mack]

All,

Good news! It looks like the mold issue is real. I told the doctors about the mold connection. She had me go in for a sputum test and a chest cat scan. Turns out I had a major infection in my nasal and chest/lungs caused by mold. After 3 weeks of cipro @ 500mg twice a day I Feel like new. I hope that the antibiotic did its job and killed the infection so it will not grow back. I would like to thank you all for your help and especially logger mike for bringing up the mold connection. I would have never put that together.
Mold is a real issue. One I would have never considered. Make sure you use proper protection while cleaning up boxes.
Thanks again to all,

Hal Mack

[StevenG]

Hal, thanks for the update, and congratulations on the good news! Hope the treatments take/took care of it for you.

This is a good heads-up for us to wear some type of respirator when we clean moldy hives in the future.
Regards,
Steven

[chillardbee]

if your suffering from CCD like symptoms, we'll never know what happened to you because you'll just disappear, much like the bees in the hive are just not there.