Virus May Cause Colony Collapse in Honeybees
News Date September 17, 2007
Scientists have identified a virus as one of the likely causes of honeybee colony collapses. The study, published in Science, suggests that the Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV) may trigger a mysterious condition currently called colony collapse disorder (CCD). Using the recently mapped honeybee genome, scientists collaborating on the study were able to identify genetic material from viruses and other pathogens in bees collected over the past three years from healthy and deteriorating colonies across the country. They found evidence of the virus in 25 of 30 affected colonies and one of 21 unaffected hives. Researchers have replicated the virus and USDA researchers plan to inject it into healthy bees to see whether it causes similar conditions found in those suffering from CCD.
Beekeepers, scientists, and public officials have been searching for the cause of the disorder, which surfaced in 2004 and was formally recognized last year. Unlike other diseases that strike beehives, the collapse disorder leaves a colony without most of its worker bees despite the presence of plentiful food, a queen, and other adult bees. It has devastated an industry that produces honey and pollinates lucrative fruit, nut, and vegetable crops such as almonds, oranges, and apples. The scientists who authored the paper emphasized that they have only begun to solve the puzzle and have yet to determine what causes a colony's abrupt decline. There is some belief that other factors, which may weaken the immune system contribute to a susceptibility of the hive to the disorder, making them more vulnerable to the virus, so other agents that may stress the hives are also being investigated. Researchers have not been able to prove that the virus is the cause of the mysterious disease that has wreaked havoc on the bee industry. If the virus is the causal agent, another lead that researchers are investigating is that it may have been introduced by bees from Australia that were first permitted to be imported in 2004, about the same time as CCD was first recognized in the U.S. Diana L. Cox-Foster, a Penn State entomologist, is the lead author of the study. (Contact: Bob Ehart)