Toni Dimaano Science 01.08.2023 23:Jan PM EST

First-Ever Vaccine For Declining Honeybees Gets Approval From The US Department Of Agriculture

The US government has approved the use of the world's first honeybee vaccine, raising hopes for a new tool against the diseases that routinely devastate colonies crucial for food pollination.

A vaccine developed by US biotech company Dalan Animal Health to help protect honeybees from American foulbrood disease has been given a conditional license by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The Solution For This Honeybee Problem Is Soon Reaching Beekeepers And Farmers

According to Engadget, a third of the fruit and produce that Americans eat in the US depends on honeybees.

However, the common honeybee has not had an easy time recently because of the effects of climate change, habitat destruction, pesticide use, and disease-related attrition.

As a result, one of the most significant pollinators on the globe has witnessed a sharp fall in population in recent years.

Luckily, the USDA this week gave an insect vaccine conditional approval, which is fantastic news for farmers since it means a remedy to one of the issues hurting honeybees is on its way.

With the help of dead Paenibacillus larvae, the disease's causative bacteria, Dalan Animal Health recently created a preventive vaccination to shield honeybees from American foulbrood disease.

It is important to note, however, that the vaccination will not call for beekeepers to use the tiniest syringe in the world to inject entire colonies of individual insects.

Instead, the medication is administered by blending it with the queen feed that worker bees consume.

The vaccine is subsequently incorporated into the "royal jelly" the drones queen feeds herself, and as a result, her offspring will be born with some degree of immunity against the dangerous bacteria.

The Vaccine Presents A Number Of Breakthrough In Honeybee Research

According to The New York Times, scientists once believed that because insects do not make antibodies as humans and mammals do, they cannot develop immunity to illnesses.

Honeybees have been exposed to a variety of diseases as a result of commercialization, transportation, and use in agriculture.

These diseases often decimate huge numbers of colonies and necessitate significant beekeeper intervention to maintain population levels.

However, researchers discovered they could defend a whole hive using a single queen after discovering the protein that causes an immunological response in bees.

Additionally, the vaccination offers a much more compassionate cure for American foulbrood, which may quickly kill colonies of 60,000 bees at once, Engadget notes.

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.

With this innovation, the company hopes to utilize the vaccination as a model for more honeybee protection measures, according to Dr. Annette Kleiser, CEO of Dalan.

"Bees are livestock and should have the same modern tools to care for them and protect them that we have for our chickens, cats, dogs and so on," she adds.

Because of this breakthrough, Dalan and other researchers, as well as beekeepers and farmers, hope that there will now be significant change in the industry.