Honey-Bee Die Off, Colony Collapse, Transmission by Pollen Suspected

VIRUSES, APIS - USA: POSSIBLE POLLEN TRANSMISSION SUSPECTED
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A ProMED-mail post

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International Society for Infectious Diseases


Date: Fri 24 Dec 2010
Source: Science News [edited]



So far, 11 species of wild [insect] pollinators in the United States
have turned up carrying some of the viruses known to menace domestic
honeybees, possibly picked up via flower pollen.

Most of these native pollinators haven't been recorded with honeybee
viruses before, according to Diana Cox-Foster of Penn State University
in University Park. The new analysis raises the specter of diseases
swapping around readily among domestic and wild pollinators,
Cox-Foster and her colleagues report online 22 Dec 2010 in PLoS ONE.
Gone are any hopes that viral diseases in honeybees will stay in
honeybees, she says. "Movement of any managed pollinator may introduce
viruses."

A pattern showed up in the survey that fits that unpleasant scenario.
Researchers tested for 5 viruses in pollinating insects and in their
pollen hauls near apiaries in Pennsylvania, New York, and Illinois.
Israeli acute parasitic virus showed up in wild pollinators near
honeybee installations carrying the disease but not near apiaries
without the virus.

In domestic honeybees, such viruses rank as one of the possible
contributors to the still-mysterious malady known as colony collapse
disorder that abruptly wipes out a hive's workforce, Cox-Foster says.

Now she and others are looking at what the viruses do to wild
pollinators. Preliminary results of ongoing lab tests show some
disturbing effects, Cox-Foster says. "Is this part of the reason why
we've seen the decline of native pollinator species in the US?" she
muses.

Surveys show that wild bumblebees, for example, are dwindling in
numbers, and the new study raises further concerns. "We recognize that
those viruses likely pose a major threat to wild bumblebees," says
Sarina Jepsen of the Xerces Society, an invertebrate conservation
group in Portland, Oregon.

One of the most interesting results in the study is the detection of
deformed-wing virus and sacbrood virus in pollen carried by foraging
bees that weren't infected themselves, comments Michelle Flenniken of
the University of California, San Francisco, who has studied bee
viruses but was not involved in the new work.

Healthy foraging insects carrying virus-laden pollen are one of the
pieces of evidence that Cox-Foster and her colleagues use to argue
that pollen by itself can transmit viral infections. "Knowing that
viruses are found in and can be transmitted from pollen is an
important finding," says Flenniken. This raises concerns about
possible virus transmission through the 200 tons of honeybee-collected
pollen used to feed bumblebees in bee-raising operations worldwide,
Cox-Foster says.

[Byline: Susan Milius]

--
Communicated by:
Thomas James Allen


[Interesting connections seem like they are being made. Perhaps this
will lead to treatment or prevention for colony collapse disorder. -
Mod.TG]

[Images of honeybee compared to bumblebee:

- Mod.JW]

[The PLoS paper mentioned above is available at
.
- Sr.Tech.Ed.MJ]

[see also:
Colony collapse disorder, apis - USA: possible cause 20101007.3635
Colony collapse disorder, apis - Europe: EU 20100915.3348
2009
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Colony collapse disorder, apis - USA: cause 20090826.3008
Colony collapse disorder, apis - USA: multiple causes susp 20090731.2687
2008
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Undiagnosed die-off, apis - China: (GD), RFI 20081119.3654
Undiagnosed die-off, apis - UK: pesticides susp. 20081004.3133
Honeybee die-off - UK 20080818.2574
Colony collapse disorder, apis - Germany: chemical ban 20080613.1868
2007
----
Colony collapse disorder, apis - USA: (FL) 20071026.3490
Undiagnosed die-off, apis - USA (Multistate) (03): agent identified
20070907.2960
Undiagnosed die-off, apis - USA : (Multistate) (02) 20070503.1436
Undiagnosed die-off, apis - USA : (Multistate) (02) 20070503.1435
Undiagnosed die-off, apis - USA (Multistate) 20070208.0497]
........................................tg/mj/jw
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