Dalan Animal Health is the provider of a bee vaccine platform intended to protect the important pollinator from devastating diseases. The company’s platform is based on an oral immunization strategy that helps in the food and feeds production supply chain to ensure maximum crop yield without any artificial additives or preservatives and is suitable for organic agriculture, enabling health professionals to protect the world’s honeybees from infectious deadly diseases and ensure safe food supply.
The world’s first vaccine for honeybees has been approved for use by the US government, raising hopes of a new weapon against diseases that routinely ravage colonies that are relied upon for food pollination.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has granted a conditional license for a vaccine created by Dalan Animal Health, a US biotech company, to help protect honeybees from American foulbrood disease.
The vaccine, which will initially be available to commercial beekeepers, aims to curb foulbrood, a serious disease caused by the bacterium Paenibacillus larvae that can weaken and kill hives. There is currently no cure for the disease, which in parts of the US has been found in a quarter of hives, requiring beekeepers to destroy and burn any infected colonies and administer antibiotics to prevent further spread.
The vaccine works by incorporating some of the bacteria into the royal jelly fed by worker bees to the queen, which then ingests it and gains some of the vaccine in the ovaries. The developing bee larvae then have immunity to foulbrood as they hatch, with studies by Dalan suggesting this will reduce death rates from the disease.
According to theguardian.com; pitchbook.com. Source of photos: internet
