World’s First Vaccine for Honeybees

Now honeybees will get vaccinated against diseases. The US government has granted a conditional license to the world’s first vaccine for honeybees. This vaccine is developed by a US biotech company named Dalan Animal Health. This vaccine will protect honeybees against American Foulbrood disease.

Till now incineration of bees and infected hives was used in apiculture.

The US Department of Agriculture has issued a conditional license for two years for this honeybee vaccine. Dalan Animal Health will share out the vaccine on a limited basis with commercial beekeepers. Its commercial use is expected to start this year.

The vaccine is administered by mixing it into queen feed which is consumed by worker bees. Through worker bees, the vaccine reaches the royal jelly consumed by the queen bee. Fragments of the vaccine get deposited in the queen bee’s ovaries. So, the larvae produced by her develop immunity as they hatch.

Dalan Animal Health plans to use this approach to develop vaccines for other honeybee diseases as well as ailments of shrimp, mealworms, and insects used in agriculture.