The US Department of Agriculture has approved use of the world’s first vaccine for honeybees against American foulbrood disease.
American foulbrood disease is deadly for honeybees as there is no cure, the only treatment for an infected colony is to burn the hive and all infected bees.
The vaccine introduces inactive bacteria into the royal jelly that the queen bee consumes, it is then transferred to its larvae which gain immunity.
Bees, birds and bats are pollinators that play a critical role in ecosystems, together they are responsible for a third of the world’s crop production.
