The world's first vaccine for honey bees

The first vaccine in the world for honey bees prepared by Finnish scientists will be mixed into the queen bee's feed and transmit disease resistance to all future bee generations.

According to smithsonianmag.com, scientists at the University of Helsinki (Finland) are preparing the world's first vaccine for honey bees. The drug will be mixed into queen bee food and infused with disease resistance for all future generations of bees.

PrimeBEE vaccine aims to protect honey bees from a disease called "American larval rot" caused by the bacterium Paenibacillus larvae .

This vaccine binds to molecules into bacterial cells and then stimulates the bee's immune response.

Although the disease only affects larvae under 3 days of age, this is a serious disease. At the same time, bacteria form millions of spores in the body of every dead larva. Bees, when clearing nests and removing dead larvae, spread spores all over the hives. When most larvae die from diseases and bees weaken, bees from nearby beehives invade infected hives to steal honey and the disease can continue to spread.

Scientists have achieved some success in treating the disease with the help of special antibiotics, but due to the fact that bacterial spores persist for a very long time (up to 40 year) so the veterinary agencies supervise request to kill all infected groups by burning.

The vaccine is made by Finnish scientists using vitellogenin protein , which binds molecules to bacterial cells and then stimulates the bee's immune response. Vaccine makers have succeeded in making queen bees, receiving pathogenic bacteria from food that have transformed modified vitellogenin proteins for the next generation. Thus, the immune system of bee larvae recognizes the pathogen and becomes resistant to disease.

Currently, vaccines are being tested and not yet available in the market. Manufacturers will have to decide if they will provide customers with a vaccine in the form of a queen bee or simply sell queen bees that have received resistance to the disease. Researchers believe that in the future they will be able to improve their vaccines to help protect bees from other diseases.