Nationwide Screening for Bee Viruses and Parasites in Belgian Honey Bees

The health of honey bees is threatened by multiple factors, including viruses and parasites. We screened 557 honey bee ( Apis mellifera ) colonies from 155 beekeepers distributed all over Belgium to determine the prevalence of seven widespread viruses and two parasites ( Varroa sp. and Nosema sp.). Deformed wing virus B (DWV-B), black queen cell virus (BQCV), and sacbrood virus (SBV) were highly prevalent and detected by real-time RT-PCR in more than 95% of the colonies. Acute bee paralysis virus (ABPV), chronic bee paralysis virus (CBPV) and deformed wing virus A (DWV-A) were prevalent to a l... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Severine Matthijs
Valérie De Waele
Valerie Vandenberge
Bénédicte Verhoeven
Jacqueline Evers
Marleen Brunain
Claude Saegerman
Paul J. J. De Winter
Stefan Roels
Dirk C. de Graaf
Nick De Regge
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2020
Reihe/Periodikum: Viruses, Vol 12, Iss 890, p 890 (2020)
Verlag/Hrsg.: MDPI AG
Schlagwörter: honey bee virus / honey bee parasite / virus screening / Belgium / Varroa / Nosema / Microbiology / QR1-502
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-28938166
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://doi.org/10.3390/v12080890

The health of honey bees is threatened by multiple factors, including viruses and parasites. We screened 557 honey bee ( Apis mellifera ) colonies from 155 beekeepers distributed all over Belgium to determine the prevalence of seven widespread viruses and two parasites ( Varroa sp. and Nosema sp.). Deformed wing virus B (DWV-B), black queen cell virus (BQCV), and sacbrood virus (SBV) were highly prevalent and detected by real-time RT-PCR in more than 95% of the colonies. Acute bee paralysis virus (ABPV), chronic bee paralysis virus (CBPV) and deformed wing virus A (DWV-A) were prevalent to a lower extent (between 18 and 29%). Most viruses were only present at low or moderate viral loads. Nevertheless, about 50% of the colonies harbored at least one virus at high viral load (>10 7 genome copies/bee). Varroa mites and Nosema sp. were found in 81.5% and 59.7% of the honey bee colonies, respectively, and all Nosema were identified as Nosema ceranae by real time PCR. Interestingly, we found a significant correlation between the number of Varroa mites and DWV-B viral load. To determine the combined effect of these and other factors on honey bee health in Belgium, a follow up of colonies over multiple years is necessary.