Source: https://news.azpm.org/p/news-npr/201...eadly-disease/



December 13, 2018
World's First Insect Vaccine Could Help Bees Fight Off Deadly Disease
Researchers say they've found a way to let queen bees pass on immunity to a devastating bacterial disease.

Bees may soon get an ally in their fight against bacterial disease ? one of the most serious threats the pollinators face ? in the form of an edible vaccine. That's the promise held out by researchers in Finland, who say they've made the first-ever vaccine for insects, aimed at helping struggling honeybee populations.

The scientists are targeting one of bees' most deadly enemies: American foulbrood, or AFB, an infectious disease that devastates hives and can spread at a calamitous rate. Often introduced by nurse bees, the disease works by bacteria feeding on larvae ? and then generating more spores, to spread further.

The idea of a potential new weapon to fight AFB has generated excitement in the beekeeping community, along with some skepticism about the claim of a vaccine ? which remains in the testing phase. The news comes three years after the same researchers were hailed in Entomology Today as discovering the "key to bee vaccination."...