similar cause of increased bee colony losses reported in other European countries, such as those experienced in France since end of the 1990s and in Germany in 2002 and 2003. In the samples examined in German laboratories in the winter of 2005/2006, the new pathogen was present in eight of 10 examined bee hives (CVUA Freiburg), with the distribution varying from state to state. The bees with the classical pathogen N. apis came from Thuringia and Bavaria, whereas N. ceranae prevailed in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bavaria, and North Rhine-Westphalia. Cases were also reported from Switzerland (July 2006) and from several regions of Italy (September 2006) where N. ceranae was found in bee colonies with increased mortality. German scientists do not know whether N. ceranae was already present in Europe and simply had not yet been differentiated from N. apis. The current disease processes possibly are more extreme when a Nosema affliction occurs because the colonies are already weakened by the Varroa mite or other factors that make them more susceptible. However, signs indicate the disease process of Nosema has changed, and the disease arises now all year round. The investigation of 131 bee colonies from Bavaria<ref>Zohni, Dalia: Zur Epidemiologie arthropodenübertragener Virosen der Honigbiene, Apis mellifera, in Bayern (translation: About epidemiology arthropode-transmissioned viral diseases of the honey bee, Apis mellifera in Bavaria). München, Germany 2006 (Inaugural-Dissertation at the Tierärztlichen Fakultät of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich).</ref> supports the thesis of a causal participation between bee viruses, which were transferred by arthropods (for instance the Varroa mite), and the periodically arising mass losses of life in the hives. Since only comparatively few of these colonies were afflicted with microsporidians (evidence showed 14.5% of the cases were afflicted with microsporidian spores, with half of the cases by N. apis and/or N. ceranae), a correlation between microsporidian affliction and virus infection could not be determined. The question of whether the colonies were dying rather from the "new" version of Nosema, which (possibly) possesses a higher pathogenicity, or due to virus diseases connected with Varroa affliction, is controversially continuing to be discussed internationally among scientists and beekeepers. Symptoms The symptoms of Nosema are relatively nonspecific, which makes it difficult to distinguish from other diseases of the honeybee. It arises mostly in the spring after periods of bad weather, although it may also be a winter disease that is only noticed in the spring when beekeepers first