Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) — The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has approved the first-ever honeybee vaccine to prevent Americanbrood, a deadly bacterial disease that can destroy honeybee colonies, officials said.
The USDA told CNN that it issued a conditional license for the vaccine to Diamond Animal Health, the manufacturer working with Dalan Animal Health, on Dec. 29.
“It is our hope that the availability of this product will help prevent and/or treat Americanbrood in honey bees due to their central role in US agriculture (for example, in pollination),” the USDA said in a statement shared via email.
On its official website, the ministry’s Agricultural Research Service describes American brood disease as “one of the most widespread and destructive honey bee brood diseases.”
In a January 4 statement, vaccine maker Dalan Animal Health said the primary treatment for Americanbrood is to burn bees and infected hives, in addition to antibiotic treatment.
In the statement, Trevor Tauzer, owner of Tauzer Apiaries and a member of the Board of Directors of the California Beekeepers Association, said: “This is an exciting step forward for beekeepers because we rely on antibiotic treatments that have limited efficacy and require a lot of time and energy to apply to beekeepers. Our beehives.
“If we can prevent infections in our hives, we can avoid costly treatments and focus our energy on other important elements of keeping bees healthy,” he added.
Dalan CEO Annette Kleiser described the vaccine in the statement as “a breakthrough in honey bee protection,” and explained: “Global population growth and climate change will increase the importance of honey bee pollination for securing our food supply.”
“We are poised to change the way we care for insects, which is affecting food production on a global scale,” Kleiser added.
Unlike traditional vaccines, honey bees are not injected using a needle.
Instead, it’s mixed with “royal fodder,” which is ingested by worker bees, according to Dalan’s statement.
The worker bees incorporate the pollen into the royal jelly, which is in turn fed to the queen bee.
Once the queen bee consumes the pollen-laden food, “parts of the pollen are deposited in her ovaries,” says Dalan, and the queen bee larvae are then born immune to the disease.
The company stated that the vaccine will be available for purchase in the United States in 2023.
