The first ever honey bee vaccine has been given the green light for use in the US.
It was developed to stop American foulbrood disease, a bacterial infection that is known to weaken colonies by attacking bee larvae, from killing people.
According to the biotech company responsible for its development, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) approved a conditional licence for the vaccine this week.
Bees are important pollinators and are involved in many ecosystem processes.
The vaccine could serve as a “breakthrough in protecting honey bees”, Dalan Animal Health CEO Annette Kleiser said in a statement.
It works by introducing an inactive version of the bacteria into the royal jelly fed to the queen, whose larvae then gain immunity.
The US has seen annual reductions in honey bee colonies since 2006, according to the USDA.
The USDA says many, sometimes overlapping, factors threaten honey bee health, including parasites, pests and disease, as well as a phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder, which occurs when worker bees abandon a hive and leave behind the queen.
Pollinators such as bees, birds, and bats are responsible for about a third of the world’s crop production, according to the United Nation’s Food and Agricultural Organization.
American foulbrood disease poses a challenge for beekeepers as it is highly contagious and has no cure. The only treatment method requires burning the colony of infected bees along with the hives and equipment and treating nearby colonies with antibiotics.
The new vaccine contains an inactive version of the bacteria that causes American foulbrood disease, Paenibacillus larvae, according to Dalan Animal health.
According to the biotech company, which specializes in insect health and immunology, the bacteria are incorporated into the royal jelly feed given by worker bees to the queen bee, who then ingests the feed and retains some of the vaccine in her ovaries.
It says this gives bee larvae immunity to the disease as they hatch and reduces death from the illness.
The new vaccine could mark an “exciting step forward for beekeepers,” California State Beekeepers Association board member Trevor Tauzer said in a statement.
“If we can prevent an infection in our hives, we can avoid costly treatments and focus our energy on other important elements of keeping our bees healthy,” he said.
Dalan plans to distribute the vaccine “on a limited basis” to commercial beekeepers and said the product would probably be available for purchase in the US this year.