American foulbrood disease is decimating many colonies of honey bees. To help beekeepers, a vaccine dedicated to hives has just obtained an authorization, which could be extended.
Bees are under threat. Their life expectancy has dropped by 50 years. This is bad news for the whole Earth. These pollinators are absolutely essential to ecosystems. Several threats weigh on them: climate change, pollution, the reduction of habitats, but also the circulation of certain diseases.
Against this infectious problem, the United States has just given the green light, at the beginning of 2023, for a vaccine. This was developed by biotech company Dalan Animal Health. It targets a specific disease: American foulbrood (caused by the bacterium Paenibacillus larvae).
This deadly disease, which only affects honeybees, spreading through spores and contact, is all the more serious in that once a hive has been affected, there is only one way to get rid of it: burn it all down. . Really everything: the structure of the hive, all the bees involved and even the equipment that touched or approached the hive. If a single spore survives eradication, it remains viable for 70 years, able to re-cause global infection. In particular, contamination can occur when nurse bees feed the larvae with food affected by these spores.
How to vaccinate bees?
To vaccinate bees, the process is of course different than in humans – it is not a question of injecting the substance to each bee one by one with a syringe. The vaccine is inserted into food provided to worker bees who will then pass the vaccine to royal jelly, which feeds the queen, who will in turn pass the substance to the larvae. The latter will then be massively immunized.
This vaccination process (known as “oral” since it involves food) was tested in a study based on two groups – a vaccinated hive and a control hive (under placebo). The results were largely conclusive. ” We demonstrate an increase in the survival of infected bee larvae after their queen has been vaccinated, compared to the offspring of control queens (placebo vaccinated). »
The license granted to Dalan is temporary. It runs over two years, for a limited group of beekeepers. If this first full-scale distribution of the vaccine is successful, then the license will be extended, and accessible to all beekeepers.
Listen to the podcast The 6th Extinction
What are the threats that weigh on the living today? To understand it and keep hope, discover our podcast The 6th Extinction, carried by science popularizer Marie Treibert. The series is made up of six episodes available on all listening platforms (Spotify, Deezer, Apple, etc.).