The U.S. Department of Agriculture gave conditional approval earlier this year to a new vaccine created by Dalan Animal Health that targets American Foulbrood, a highly contagious bacterial disease threatening bee hives around the world—and the vaccine doesn’t sting!
“The new vaccine is basically just dead bacteria mixed in an aqueous solution that is fed to the queen to vaccinate the entire hive,” explains Amy Floyd, Regional Manager at Dalan Animal Health.
This isn’t just a win for the honeybee industry, Floyd adds, but agriculture as a whole! That’s because honeybees are the primary insect pollinator for many crops grown across the U.S.
“Bees pollinate our food,” Floyd says. “A lot of crops and growers would not get the yield that they need for their business to be profitable. But also [the vaccine will help] the public to have enough food because our population has grown so much. So, bees provide those pollination services that allow there to be enough food for everyone.”
