World’s first vaccine for honeybees gets conditional nod in US

Subject: Environment

Context:

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has granted a conditional licence for a vaccine for honeybees to curb American foulbrood (AFB), a fatal bacterial disease for the insect.

American foulbrood (AFB):

AFB is caused by the spore-forming bacterium Paenibacillus larvae, according to bee information website Bee Aware.
Infected broods usually die at the pre-pupal or pupal stage.
It is not a stress-related disease and can infect the strongest to the weakest colony in an apiary.
Heavy infections can affect most of the brood, severely weakening the colony and eventually killing it.
The disease cannot be cured, meaning that the destruction of infected colonies and hives or irradiation of infected material is the only way to manage AFB.
The bacteria Melissococcus plutonius causes another similar disease, European foulbrood. However, the incidence of EFB is generally higher when the colony is under stress.

Vaccine:

The first such vaccine, developed by biotechnology company Dalan Animal Health.
The vaccine technology exposes queen bees to inactive (ie, “dead”) bacteria, which enables the larvae hatched in the hive to resist infection.

Effectiveness of the vaccine:

Role of Honeybees in the ecosystem:

Honeybees- Threats and their significance:

Honeybee populations are declining sharply, spurred by habitat loss, pesticide use and the climate crisis.
Fewer honeybees mean not just less honey but also less food — honeybees are critical to pollination of the crops.
They provide high-quality food—honey, royal jelly and pollen — and other products such as beeswax, propolis and honey bee venom.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, a third of the world’s food production depends on bees.