The health of western honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) is constantly affected by Nosema ceranae, a microsporidian threat to colonies worldwide. We extracted propolis, a natural product exhibiting antimicrobial properties, from honey bee hives, fed it to worker bees before or after infection with N. ceranae, and determined its ability to protect bees from and treat them after infection. Protection from N. ceranae was tested using newly emerged bees that were group fed (50 bees/group) 50% propolis extract for 2, 4 and 8 d prior to infection with 1 × 10⁵ spores per bee. Treatment of N. ceranae was tested on newly emerged bees that were individually force-fed with 2 µL of 50% (w/v) sucrose solution containing 1 × 10⁵ spores per bee and then treated with 50% propolis in 50% sucrose solution (v/v) at 0, 2, 4 and 8 d post infection (p.i.). Positive (sugar water + N. ceranae), negative (sugar water only), and solvent (ethanol + sugar water) controls were included in both studies. Propolis fed to honey bees for 4 or 8 d before infection was associated with significantly reduced mortality, infectivity, and N. ceranae infection rates compared to the positive controls. Moreover, providing propolis to infected honey bees at d 0, 2, and 4 p.i. significantly reduced bee mortality, infection, and infectivity rates compared to the positive controls and bees treated 8 d p.i. Therefore, propolis extracted from honey bee hives may be a promising alternative approach to antibiotics for protecting colonies from Nosema disease.

西方蜜蜂 ( Apis mellifera L.)的健康不断受到Nosema ceranae 的影响，这是一种对全世界蜂群构成的微孢子虫威胁。我们从蜜蜂蜂箱中提取蜂胶，一种具有抗菌特性的天然产品，在感染N. ceranae之前或之后将其喂给工蜂，并确定其保护蜜蜂免受感染并在感染后对其进行治疗的能力。使用新出现的蜜蜂测试对N. ceranae 的保护作用，这些蜜蜂在感染前 2、4 和 8 天用每只蜜蜂1 × 10 ⁵孢子进行组饲（50 只蜜蜂/组）50% 蜂胶提取物。非洲猪笼草的治疗对新出现的蜜蜂进行测试，这些蜜蜂单独用 2 µL 50% (w/v) 蔗糖溶液强制喂食，每只蜜蜂含有 1 × 10 ^{5 个}孢子，然后用 50% 蔗糖溶液 (v/v) 中的 50% 蜂胶处理在感染后 (pi) 0、2、4 和 8 天。两项研究均包括阳性（糖水 + N.ceranae）、阴性（仅糖水）和溶剂（乙醇 + 糖水）对照。在感染前将蜂胶喂给蜜蜂 4 或 8 天与死亡率、传染性和N. ceranae显着降低有关与阳性对照相比的感染率。此外，与阳性对照和感染后第 8 天处理的蜜蜂相比，在感染后第 0、2 和 4 天向受感染的蜜蜂提供蜂胶可显着降低蜜蜂的死亡率、感染率和感染率。用于保护菌落免受Nosema病的抗生素替代方法。