AFB vaccine approval

Welcome to NZ Beekeepers+
Would you like to join the rest of our members? Feel free to sign up today.
Sign up

Alastair

Founder Member
Platinum
8,845
10,043
Auckland
Experience
Semi Commercial
Wow, excellent. Seems it is as simple as feeding it to your cell builder, and the resultant queens pass immunity to their offspring (y) :)
 

NickWallingford

BOP Club
323
476
Tauranga
Experience
Retired
Here is the more detailed description of the work that underpins the approval:


"The data presented here indicate that infection with AFB can be decreased by about 30–50% in the laboratory conditions after vaccination of the queens."

I'm not competent to comment on the methodology, apart from saying that the "challenge" of the larvae seems possibly suspect to me, at least as far as mimicing the real transfer of larval food, etc.

But the *best* I could see it doing might be to ever so slightly slow the inexorable spread of the AFB? 30-50% reduction in infected larvae is still going to leave many in the colony.

And I note the need for veterinarian involvement in the approval.

Nick Wallingford
Tauranga
 
272
320
Gisborne Tairawhiti
Experience
Researcher
Perhaps combined with the bacteriophages as well (or the phages *instead of* even?) . . .then potential solutions may be available.
For those that have provided samples to Heather Hendrickson's group over the year (formerly in Auckland, now at Canterbury) then a consortium co-led by her (and another phage hunter) has just received $9 million to continue this work. . . .look forward to more on phages coming to a hive near you. She was talking about it on National radio yesterday:
 


Top