This is interesting!
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/07/us/honeybee-vaccine-usda-approval-scn-trnd/index.html
In part:
“We hope the availability of this product will aid in the prevention and/or treatment of the disease American Foulbrood in honeybees given their central role in American agriculture (e.g. pollination),” said the USDA in a statement shared over email.
Also:
“Unlike traditional vaccines, the honeybee vaccine isn’t injected with a syringe. Instead, it’s mixed into “queen feed,” which the worker bees consume, according to Dalan’s statement. The worker bees incorporate the vaccine into royal jelly, which they feed to the queen bee. Once the queen bee has consumed the vaccine-laden royal jelly, “fragments of the vaccine are deposited in her ovaries,” says Dalan. Then the queen’s larvae will be born with immunity to the disease.”
im not aware of any of this American Foulbrood disease locally, but it has been detected in Clatsop County I believe. Anyway, more progress in saving the bees!