World’s First Vaccine For Honeybees Approved In US: It was developed to stop American foulbrood disease, a bacterial infection known to impair colonies by damaging bee larvae, from killing people.
According to the biotech company responsible for its creation, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) authorized a provisional license for the vaccine this week.
Bees are essential pollinators and are involved in many environmental processes.
The vaccination may represent a “breakthrough in preserving honey bees,” according to Dylan Animal Health CEO Annette Kleiser.
It functions by putting an inactive form of the bacteria into the royal jelly the queen eats, giving her larvae immunity.
Since 2006, honey bee colonies have been declining annually in the US, according to the USDA.
According to the USDA, various occasionally converging variables, including parasites, pests, and disease, and a condition known as Colony Collapse Disorder happens when worker bees quit a hive and leave the queen behind, posing a threat to honey bee health.
According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, approximately one-third of the world’s food production is caused by pollinators like bees, birds, and bats.
Since American foulbrood disease is incurable and highly contagious, it presents a problem for beekeepers. The only therapy is burning the infected bee colony along with the hives and equipment and administering antibiotics to other territories of bees.
According to Dylan Animal Health, the new vaccine contains a dormant form of the bacteria Paenibacillus larvae that causes American foulbrood disease.
According to the biotech company, which specializes in insect health and immunology, the bacteria are mixed into the royal jelly feed provided by worker bees to the queen bee, who subsequently ingests the feed and retains some of the vaccination in her ovaries.
This, it is said, provides bee larvae immunity to the sickness as they hatch and lowers disease-related fatalities.
According to a board member of the California State Beekeepers Association, Trevor Tauzer, the new vaccination may represent “an encouraging step forward for beekeepers.”
“If we can prevent an infection in our hives, we can avoid costly treatments and focus our energy on other important elements of keeping our bees healthy,” he said.
Dylan said the vaccine would probably be sold in the US this year and planned to give it out “on a limited basis” to commercial beekeepers.