AFB vaccine

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Jhah

BOP Club
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6
kawerau
Experience
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Dalan.com has produced an AFB vaccine which sounds good,they are waiting for approval from the powers that bee.I saw this on inside the hive tv you tube but you can go direct to dalan.com.check it out what do you think?
 
106
248
Dunedin
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Semi Commercial
I still think our current, zero-tolerance approach is far superior to such a "vaccine". Even in a best case scenario where is works as they claim you would need to feed the vaccine to hives regularly (minimum every time you requeen). It will not remove reservoirs of AFB spores in a hive so in that regard has the same problem as antibiotics.
 
90
116
Hamilton
Experience
Researcher
Very interesting stuff. Their website has lots of marketing fluff and not much science though, so I went and looked up their patents. It seems like the vaccine is deactivated AFB spores - they grow them in large quantities, concentrate them up, kill them with heat and pressure (autoclaved), and finally mix them with food to make them attractive to bees. Kind of similar to how some human vaccines are made.
 

yesbut

Staff member
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Nelson
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It always amazes me the the way some people manage to replicate a living organism's specific biological niche in a petri dish.
 
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Hawkes Bay
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Fascinating stuff. I'm not sure it would be practical in real life but it is amazing what people come up with. My main concern with the video itself is that the example used for roping AFB is extremely pale and not even the right consistency for AFB. The shots of infected brood show classic symptoms of a heavily infected hive and any infections would range from light chocolate to dark chocolate. I would go so far as to say I could muster up a healthy lavie and get a very similar result to what is shown. You do occasionally find a very newly infected cell that will be that colour but it is not common and not a good example.
 
1,030
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Christchurch
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I still think our current, zero-tolerance approach is far superior to such a "vaccine". Even in a best case scenario where is works as they claim you would need to feed the vaccine to hives regularly (minimum every time you requeen). It will not remove reservoirs of AFB spores in a hive so in that regard has the same problem as antibiotics.
I love zero tolerance, but that also needs 100% compliance.

AFB first recorded in NZ in 1877, and the action plan 1998…. Even I’m sceptical it’s going to work.

BUT, current practice controls the situation while science catches up. Although this vaccine may not be the solution, the science it generates may find it.
 
349
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Bay of Plenty
Experience
Commercial
I love zero tolerance, but that also needs 100% compliance.

AFB first recorded in NZ in 1877, and the action plan 1998…. Even I’m sceptical it’s going to work.

BUT, current practice controls the situation while science catches up. Although this vaccine may not be the solution, the science it generates may find it.
Best and cheapest practice is still beekeeper to learn what to look for and check regularly and deal with it ASAP,
 

Dave Black

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Dalan.com has produced an AFB vaccine which sounds good,they are waiting for approval from the powers that bee.I saw this on inside the hive tv you tube but you can go direct to dalan.com.check it out what do you think?
Um, so honeybees (all insects) don't make antibodies, so I'd want a really good explanation for how this is supposed to work. Secondly, honeybees are already 'immune' to AFB. Only a specific developmental stage of young larvae can be infected, which may have something to do with way the peritrophic membrane forms, so I fail to how a 'vaccine' will be of use.
I'd be sending this to Mythbusters.
 

Dave Black

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Don’t you hate it when someone who knows stuff comes along. Ignorance is bliss.
I’ve been thinking about how this might work (I still think it can’t – for beekeepers and AFB).

In the last 20 years there have been a few studies published about what has become known as ‘immune priming’ in invertebrates (in plants it’s called Systemic Acquired Resistance (SAR)). It is still the subject of debate, and how it happens hasn’t been explained, but it’s not contested that these studies have found in a variety of animals, including bumblebee bees (and worms, some fish, fruit flies, sponges, blah, blah…), a ‘memory’ of a pathological challenge can persist, and make the response better the next time it happens. It suggests another kind of adaptive immunity, besides antibody/lymphocyte/ T-cell ‘memory’ like ours.

There is also evidence of what is called ‘trans-generational’ immune priming, and it’s in honeybees, for AFB. (see Trans-generational immune priming in honeybees, 2014, Trans-generational immune priming in honeybees | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences ). To make it work you’ll have to feed your queen (not the hive) heat-killed P. larvae bacteria (not spores).

Anyway, just proof it’s important to keep learning and not take things for granted…
 

Alastair

Founder Member
Platinum
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Auckland
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27
11
Lower North Island
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A harbinger of doom via Facebook brought me here to see what this is all about. No opinions either but may be worth considering the impact to customers who are leery of these type of advances. Since it is called American Foulbrood the USDA approval could be seen as politically motivated.
I had to go looking to see what they were on about.
Business wise Study Reveals First-Ever Insect Vaccine for Honeybees is Safe and Effective
... Photo attached to give an idea of how some will react to the thought of vaccinated bees for consideration

Budget and tax return prep done along with tweaking back means I'll be reading all the posts but thought I'd poke my oar into the thread first.
 

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43
29
Dunedin
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Hobbyist
It will be far from perfect or perhaps not even practical, but, hey.. it is a development. Every journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step.
 
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Lower North Island
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It will be far from perfect or perhaps not even practical, but, hey.. it is a development. Every journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step.
A thousand miles is a long way to walk especially when you start out in the wrong direction ;)

In the U.S. they shook swarm and feed prophylactic antibiotics in some operations according to YouTube so please correct me someone if I'm wrong on this.

Have to be a viable pollination business that runs East to West touching on Southern and Northern states as they pass by. Tough gig
 
43
29
Dunedin
Experience
Hobbyist
A thousand miles is a long way to walk especially when you start out in the wrong direction ;)

In the U.S. they shook swarm and feed prophylactic antibiotics in some operations according to YouTube so please correct me someone if I'm wrong on this.

Have to be a viable pollination business that runs East to West touching on Southern and Northern states as they pass by. Tough gig
You are not wrong that the journey is a long way if you start out the wrong direction. So far I agree, but fortunately I believe in the conspiracy that the earth is round, so we would get there eventually.. But I don't think it is a development that is wrong. It is a development which can't be said for a static thing like burning, as effective as it may be in theory. I am aware of the situation in the US.

"...correct me someone if I'm wrong on this." I honestly don't get what you mean, sorry.
 
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