In an effort to prevent a contagious disease caused by a spore-forming bacterium, the United States has just approved a vaccine against Paenibacillus larvae (bacteria), which affects the European honeybee (Apis mellifera).
It will be supplied in a mixture with royal jelly — secreted by the glands of young worker bees — and which ultimately serves as food for the queen bee. To make it effective, it is deposited in the queen’s ovaries, allowing the developing larvae to possess immunity as they hatch.
Since 1962 there has been a decline of up to 90% in bee populations due to climate change, intensive farming techniques and the use of pesticides, among other factors. The problem, in addition to being ecological, affects the food supply for humans, because bees are great pollinators.
A recent study from Harvard University, for example, pointed out that inadequate pollination is reducing the overall yield of fruits, vegetables and nuts by between 3 and 5%. A decline in access to healthy food that could translate into more than four hundred thousand deaths from health problems.
The vaccine, designed by biotech company Dalan Animal Health, will not only be available to US beekeepers very soon, but could help limit the impact of the global pollinator crisis. In other words: the vaccine will not only protect the bees, but it will protect us.
