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USDA approves first American Foulbrood vaccine for honeybees

A new treatment developed by Dalan Animal Health will protect honeybees from American Foulbrood disease (AFB).

Amy Floyd, Head of Beekeeper Relations for Dalan tells Brownfield AFB is a highly contagious bacterial disease that kills honeybee larvae, and until now the only treatment method was to incinerate hives and infected equipment.

She says the USDA granted a conditional license for their vaccine in December, which is an oral treatment mixed into a sugary substance called “queen candy” and fed to worker bees.

 “They digest it and it goes into glands in their head that produce royal jelly. Then that royal jelly is fed to the queen. She digests it into her system and the particles work into her ovaries, which then transfer to the egg, which primes the larvae from that pathogen when they are hatched.”

She says the vaccine development creates resiliency in the food supply chain because of the important role honeybees play in pollination.

“There are some crops that can only be pollinated by honeybees and even for crops that are pollinated by other pollinators, honeybees can significantly increase the yield of those crops. So, they play a pretty crucial role in ensuring there is enough food for a growing population.”  

Floyd says this vaccine is the first Dalan has developed and should be commercially available this spring.

She says their future goals are to create a similar treatment for European Foulbrood disease and study how variations of their vaccine could help other insects.