If you follow this channel for a while you know that Varroa mites
today are the number one enemy of honeybees however what you might
not know is that varroa is not the most destructive honeybee pest that we know
The amount of damage caused by American foulbrood in the early 20s in the united states was
terrifying, it was a big deal at the time. For you to have an idea of how impactful this disease was,
the state's beekeeping inspectors program and beekeeping associations started because
of the American foulbrood epidemic. People really felt the necessity to get together to fight back
against this lethal disease. Today the inspection program together with stringent regulations
and intense use of antibiotics was able to keep American foulbrood under control. In this video,
I will explain why American foulbrood is still a very dangerous disease that we must
take seriously and show you a new tool coming to the market that will help you
to keep this important disease and perhaps many others away from our honeybee colonies
The causative agent of American foulbrood is the grand positive spore-forming bacterium
Paenibacillus larvae. The endospore of these bacteria are the only infectious
form of this organism and can only infect larvae. Adults don't become
infected. it works like this, larvae from 12 to 36 hours old are most susceptible to infection.
If their food is contaminated with about 10 spores or less that's enough to initiate
a fatal infection. What is a fatal infection you might ask? The bacteria will colonize and
massively replicate in the midgut of honeybee larvae and slowly find their way into the gut
where they penetrate the gut epithelium reaching all other tissues of the new honeybee. The rapid
propagation of the bacteria together with the release of powerful proteases are responsible not
only for the killing of the larvae but for this degradation of the remains, something that we know
is a brownish semi-fluid thing, a classic symptom of American foulbrood, that we call a ropey stage.
Here is the danger of American foulbrood, the spores remain infectious for more than
35 years and withstand severe weather and drought and it is resistant to antibiotics.
This kind of organism is a constant pressure to beekeeping operations because we know
they're just there all the time waiting for the right opportunity to cause damage
Because of the rapid damage, the American foulbrood epidemic can cause
American foulbrood is a notifiable disease around the world, regulated by law which includes the
destruction of clinically infected hives causing significant losses for the beekeeping operation
that needs not only to burn part of the colonies but also to quarantine part of the operation.
Antibiotics are often used to prevent and treat colonies, not legal. However,
as you probably know severe problems are associated with the use of antibiotics for
example antibiotics kill the replicating bacteria but not the spores, only suppressing the clinical
symptoms for a short period of time and masking the disease but not curing them.
Number two chemical residues from antibiotics can persist in honey affecting its quality and
safety for human consumption. Number three antibiotics affect the vitality of the brood
and the longevity of the honeybees, and number four, the problem with bacteria resistant to
antibiotics which creates superbugs. So the use of antibiotics is, to say the least, a bad choice.
Another way beekeepers are trying to deal with American foulbrood is by a genetic selection
of hygienic honeybees. If you want to have a taste of how complicated and controversial this might be
please check my videos about hygienic behaviors and make your own conclusions.
At the end of the day what is really keeping American foulbrood under some sort of control
is the constant monitoring by apiary inspectors and stringent laws requiring beekeepers to burn
infected colonies. And even with all of that, there are still occasionally
severe events happening and this is underreported because of fear.
The system is able to suppress the problem but the pressure is always there. Other industries
are able to prevent diseases effectively using vaccines something that until recently was not
possible in the beekeeping industry, and that is where Dalan Animal Health comes in,
bringing to the market soon, the first-ever honeybee vaccine.
Recent events were a strong reminder of the importance of
vaccines. Vaccines have the power to improve lives and change industry and hopefully,
now we might have a new tool to help honeybees against pests and pathogens as well.
Daily we will start with the vaccine against American foulbrood and it works like this
a newly mated honeybee queen is introduced in a queen cage together with assistant workers.
Nothing new here what is new is the food that they will receive, a normal queen candy mixed
with the vaccine. Super simple. The assistant bees will then feed the queen with food from
this candy vaccinating the queen, and small pieces of dead American foulbrood bacteria
will end up in the fat bodies of honeybee queens and this way the whole new generation of honeybees
from the vaccinated honeybee queen will receive the necessary immunity to fight the disease,
a process called transgenerational immune priming. And did I mention that is non-GMO and can be used
in organic beekeeping operations as well? Pretty cool huh Dalan is working to get the green light
from the regulatory agency the USDA in this case, yes all data Dalan generated on safety,
manufacturing, and efficacy is being reviewed by a regulatory agency like any other animal vaccine
you would get from your veterinarian so that beekeepers can now start using in their hives.
Please visit dalan.com for more information, link in the description of this video. Dalan is very
excited to bring this innovation to reality and I am very proud to be part of this impressive team
meaning that I will be talking a lot about this new technology here in this channel, and if you
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