New Study of Honey Bee Parasites and Disease from vanEngelsdorp Lab

Image Credits: Bee Informed Partnership

Congratulations to lead author Kirsten Traynor, Dennis vanEngelsdorp, and their collaborators at UMD, the U.S. Dept of Agriculture, and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences on a new paper titled “Multiyear survey targeting disease incidence in U.S. honey bees,” published April 20 in the journal Apidologie. The paper describes the results of the first comprehensive, multi-year study of honey bee parasites and disease as part of the National Honey Bee Disease Survey. 

The findings provide an important five-year baseline against which to track future trends. Key findings show that the varroa mite, a major honey bee pest, is far more abundant than previous estimates indicated and is closely linked to several damaging viruses. Also, the results show that the previously rare Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus has skyrocketed in prevalence since it was first detected by the survey in 2010.

The good news, however, is that three potentially damaging exotic species have not yet been introduced into the United States: the parasitic tropilaelaps mite, the Asian honey bee Apis cerana and slow bee paralysis virus. 

The news release is posted on the Univeristy of Maryland's CMNS website

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