The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has approved the use of the vaccine created by Dalan Animal Health to protect bees against American foulbrood disease, reports the Guardian.
“We are ready to change the way we care for insects, which will impact food production on a global scale,” said Annette Kleiser, CEO of the US biotech company.
A quarter of US hives affected
This disease, classified by the National Agency for Food Safety (Anses) as “first category danger in France”, in a decree of November 29, 2013, can affect the larvae and decimate an entire colony of bees.
However, he points out the guardianthe disease has so far only been detected in North America.
In the United States, the bacterium responsible for the disease was found in a quarter of the hives, indicates the British media. Since there is no cure, beekeepers are forced to destroy their colonies or use antibiotics to anticipate future spreads.
The vaccine, initially made available to commercial beekeepers, does not take the form humans are used to. “Dalan’s vaccine technology exposes queens to inactive (ie ‘dead’) bacteria,” the lab says on its website. By ingesting these bacteria in their royal jelly, the queens will pass on immunity to the larvae they will later lay.
Source: BFM TV
