# Nosemosis Prevention and Control
## 3 Control Methods
### Antibiotic Treatments  
Given that honey bees are food-producing animals [53; 54], the use of antibiotic treatments in beekeeping should consider the impact on the hive products, mainly in terms of residues [54]. Nosemosis control with antibiotics has been mainly based on fumagillin administration. Depending on the geographical location and colony conditions (e.g., weather, stress, strength, etc. ), it is advised to treat infested colonies from once (in autumn during feeding) to twice a year (in autumn and in spring, in the case of severe infections) [55; 56; 57; 58]. While the autumn treatment aims to keep the colony alive during the cold season, the spring treatment is focused on improving the health status of adult bees that will be able to properly take care of the next generation of bees that are raised in spring. While efficacy of fumagillin against _N. apis_ has long since been proven [59], recent evidence indicates that fumagillin is effective against _N. crane_ in western honey bees too [60]. Nevertheless, the use of fumagillin in heavily infected colonies with _N. crane_ did not improve the size or increase the survival rate of colonies during winter, regardless of the dose or administration strategy adopted [61; 62]. Moreover, the study carried out by [PERSON] et al. (2017) suggested that the elimination of gut bacteria by an antibiotic treatment weakened the immune function and made honey bees more susceptible to Nosema infection. Treating colonies with 120 mg/colomy of fumagillin in four applications (total amount of syrup 250 mL, each application 62.5 mL) was effective against depopulation and colony death, although relapses were detectable 4 months after treatment ended [7]. The total amount of active fumagillin ingested by a bee is the key to effectiveness. Administration of fumagillin with sucrose syrup gave better results than with medicated patties, which were not entirely consumed by the bees during field trials [7]. The use of fumagillin is not authorized in Europe due to the lack of a maximum residue limit definition in honey and of a registered veterinary medicine with this active substance. Its use in the EU may be admitted only under exceptional circumstances. Fumagillin is registered for use in Canada to treat Nosema disease. It is available in the commercial product as a salt, dicyclohexylamine (DCH). This chemical contaminant is a potential hazard for human health, as it is five times more toxic than fumagillin according to studies conducted on rats, and it is a genotoxic and oncogenic compound [61]. DCH is significantly more resistant to degradation in honey than fumagillin. Observed half-lives for DCHranged from a minimum of 368 days, when stored at 34 \({}^{\circ}\)C in darkness, to a maximum of 852 days, when stored at 21 \({}^{\circ}\)C in darkness. A maximum half-life of 246 days was observed for fumagillin in samples kept in darkness at a temperature of 21 \({}^{\circ}\)C, while the observed half-life of fumagillin was estimated to be 3 days when exposed to light at 21 \({}^{\circ}\)C, and complete degradation was observed after 30 days under the same conditions. The stability of DCH, combined with its toxicity, make it an important hazard to be considered regarding hive products for human consumption safety [62]. The effectiveness of commercial product Fumagillin B\({}^{\circledR}\) showed to be influenced by several factors, such as storage conditions (e.g., temperature and RH), dosage, dilution and UV exposure. High temperatures inside the hive can drastically reduce the initial concentration of fumagillin within a few hours. Moreover, the effect of low fumagillin concentrations were tested. At lower fumagillin concentrations, significantly more pathogenic spores of \(N\). _ceranae_ were produced in treated bees than in untreated infected bees. Protein profiles of bees fed with fumagillin confirmed the hypothesis that fumagillin affects bee physiology when administered at concentrations lower than those that are effective against \(N\). _ceranae_.