The "Introduction Of A USDA Vaccination For Honeybees" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Looking back over a few stories I had written over a year or so ago about honeybees.  My friend, Hal, had several beehives in his back yard and every year he would invite me to visit with him as he collected the honey and took it to a relative's home for putting the honey into individual jars.  

Hal preparing to collect the honey from his honey bees.

This past year he gave up on his beehives since they became more of a job rather than a hobby.  I recently read a story in my local newspaper about a vaccination that was approved for honey bees.  Yes...you read that correctly.  The Department of Agriculture approved the first vaccine for honeybees, a move that scientists say could help pave the way for controlling viruses and pests that have decimated the global population of honeybees.  It would be the first vaccine approved for any insect in the United States.  The company, Dalan Animal Health, which is based in Athens, Georgia, developed a prophylactic vaccine that protects honeybees from American foulbrood, an aggressive bacterium that can spend quickly from hive to hive.  In the past the only ways to control the spread of bacterium was to burn the infected colonies and all of the associated equipment or use antibiotics.  An Austrian Asst. Professor, Dalail Freitak, who works at the University of Graz said that the vaccine could help change the way scientists approach animal health.  There are millions of beehives throughout the world which have very little health care.  The new vaccine may help change the way they approach raising the bees and collecting the honey.

Honey bee hive showing the honey in the honeycomb.

The vaccine contains dead versions of the bacterium, Paenibacillus larvae, which comes in the form of food.  The vaccine is incorporated into royal jelly, a sugar feed given to queen bees.  Once they ingest it, the vaccine is then deposited in their ovaries, giving developing larvae immunity as they hatch.  It was long assumed that insects couldn't acquire immunity because they lacked antibodies, the proteins that help many animals' immune systems recognize and fight bacteria and viruses.  Once scientists understood that insets could acquire immunity and pass it to their offspring, they found they could cultivate immunity in bee populations with a single queen.  Their first goal was to tackle American foul brood, a bacterial disease that turns larvae dark brown and makes the hive give off a rotting smell.  The introduction of a vaccine comes at a critical time for honeybees which are vital to the world's food system, but are also declining globally because of climate change, pesticides, habitat loss and disease.  The new vaccine may help raising bees a more attractive hobby for many who might have given up on the hobby of raising bees had the new vaccine not been discovered.  I guess only time will tell how many people who used to raise bees, such as my friend Hal, will give it a try once again.  I'm going to have to give Hal a call and see if he still has an interest in raising honey bees.  He may want to give it a try once again.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.