Some bee diseases and pests cease to be the problem of a single apiary and become a regional threat. With these the beekeeper's first duty is not treatment but notification.

Which ones

The list differs by country, but the most commonly notifiable worldwide are:

• American foulbrood — spores remain viable for decades and travel on equipment
• European foulbrood — notifiable in many countries
• Small hive beetle — invasive, spreads rapidly
• Tropilaelaps — an invasive mite in newly reached areas

Some countries also list invasive hornets. Learn the current list from your agricultural authority or beekeeping association.

Why reporting is required

What these agents share is that they do not stay in one colony. They spread through robbing, swarming, colonies that are sold and equipment that is lent.

American foulbrood illustrates it: spores persist on equipment for years. A beekeeper treating quietly conceals the disease rather than removing it, while sold colonies and exchanged comb carry the agent onward.

What to do if you suspect it

• Close the hive. Move no comb to other colonies and lend no equipment
• Document it. Photographs, date, hive number
• Report it to the competent agricultural authority or your beekeeping association
• Do not start treatment on your own. Antibiotics suppress symptoms without eliminating the agent and make diagnosis harder
• Stop colony movements until the diagnosis is clear

The value of records

The first thing asked after a report is colony movements: where they came from, where they went, who bought them. Without that information the source cannot be traced and the scope of measures is drawn wider than necessary.

A simple notebook suffices: date, hive number, operation, counterparty.

What reporting gives the beekeeper

It looks like a burden. In practice early reporting usually results in narrower measures; a concealed disease, once it emerges at scale, brings harsher intervention and greater loss.

In many countries notification is also a precondition for compensation and support.