Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder have documented how bees in Europe have been afflicted with a contagious and deadly fungus that can be spread through flower petals during pollination.

Called nosema, different varieties of the fungus have been documented all over the world, including in South Africa, Kenya, Russia, Brazil, the United States, and Canada.

Researchers from University of Colorado Boulder studied nosema, a deadly parasitic fungus that could be on the verge of causing a pandemic among bees.

Beekeepers have helped fight the spread of nosema by breeding particular kinds of resistant bees and using plant extracts to treat bees with current infections.

Bees in different regions have developed immunity to different types of nosema, which has helped limit the spread of the fungus, but researchers worry a novel strain could sweep across multiple regions in the world despite local resistance.

Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline

Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline

We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline

You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook