The United States has authorised the use of the first honeybee vaccine ever created. According to a report by Business Wire on Wednesday, the American biotech business Dalan Animal Health Inc. has received a conditional licence from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to produce vaccinations to help protect honeybees from the American Foulbrood disease.
The bacterium Paenibacillus larvae, which can weaken and kill colonies, is what causes the American foulbrood illness. Despite having its roots in the US, the disease has since spread to every continent.
The honeybee vaccination produced by Dalan Animal Health includes dead whole-cell Paenibacillus larvae bacteria. The vaccination will be given by including it into the queen meal that worker bees eat. The vaccine is incorporated into the royal jelly by the worker bees who then feed it to the queen.
The queen then ingests it and fragments of the vaccine are deposited in her ovaries, the Business Wire report said and pointed out that having been exposed to the vaccine, the developing larvae have immunity as they hatch.
Post Your Comments