U.S. Government Green Lights Vaccine for Honeybees

A vaccine developed by Dalan Animal Health was given a conditional license by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

According to reports, the vaccine developed by a US biotech company aids in honeybee protection against American foulbrood.

“Our vaccine is a breakthrough in protecting honeybees. We are ready to change how we care for insects, impacting food production on a global scale.”

Foulbrood is a dangerous illness brought on by the bacteria Paenibacillus larvae that can weaken and destroy colonies. The vaccine, which will initially be made accessible to commercial beekeepers, aims to prevent it. Since there is presently no treatment for the illness, which has been identified in 25% of hives in some parts of the US, beekeepers must burn or kill any affected colonies and give antibiotics to stop the spread of the disease.

“It’s something that beekeepers can easily recognize because it reduces the larvae to this brown goo that has a rancid stink to it.”

In order for the vaccine to work, some of the germs must be added to the royal jelly that worker bees feed to the queen, who subsequently consumes it and absorbs part of the vaccine into her ovaries. After hatching, the growing bee larvae will be immune to foulbrood, according to studies by Dalan, which may lower the disease’s mortality rate.

“In a perfect scenario, the queens could be fed a cocktail within a queen candy – the soft, pasty sugar that queen bees eat while in transit. Queen breeders could advertise ‘fully vaccinated queens.’”

By exposing queen bees to dormant bacteria, the Dalan vaccine method enables larvae produced in the hive to fend off illness.

Dalan can help develop a unique vaccination schedule for your business that works with a number of widely used queen cages.