Scientists may have discovered the cause of a devastating syndrome in honeybees that has destroyed 50% to 90% of hives in the USA posing enormous problems for crops that depend on them to reproduce.
The culprit, reported in the journal Science Thursday, may be the Israeli acute paralysis (IAP) virus.

Colony collapse disorder, or CCD, first surfaced in 2004 in U.S. hives. It kills the worker bees that go out to find pollen. Theories on the cause have ranged from exposure to pollen from genetically modified crops to the impact of electronic waves from cellphone towers. None have panned out.
But using a new genetic technique to identify the various microbes and viruses that inhabit bees, scientists found a strong correlation between bees infected with the IAP virus and those from hives hit with CCD.
This is the first good marker scientists have found to explain the destruction of hives and could aid beekeepers in knowing which hives to quarantine.
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CCD's impact on the $15-billion-a-year honeybee industry has hit the nation's farms hard because of the role that bees play in natural cycles. The nimble insects pollinate 90% to 100% of at least 19 kinds of fruits, vegetables and nuts.
Although the IAP virus was first identified in Israel, it originated in Australia. CCD started appearing in the USA the same year that U.S. beekeepers began importing bees from Australia.
Diana Cox-Foster at Pennsylvania State University and colleagues collected and tested samples from healthy and infected hives. The scientists identified seven viruses that infected bees, but the other six weren't strongly associated with CCD.
"The only candidate that was left standing at the end of this fairly rigorous system was IAP," said Ian Lipkin, an expert on immunopathogens at Columbia University and senior author of the paper. It's unlikely that IAP is the sole reason for CCD, the researchers said. Multiple factors are probably involved.
Before 2004, bees could not be imported into the USA from outside North America under Department of Agriculture rules because of concerns about diseases. USDA is evaluating what its next step should be, said spokeswoman Andrea McNally.
The good news is that there are honeybees in Israel that are genetically resistant to IAP virus. "This adds yet more argument for the urgency of beekeepers to adopt genetically resistant stock," said Keith Delaplane, an expert on honeybees at the University of Georgia in Athens.
The culprit, reported in the journal Science Thursday, may be the Israeli acute paralysis (IAP) virus.

Colony collapse disorder, or CCD, first surfaced in 2004 in U.S. hives. It kills the worker bees that go out to find pollen. Theories on the cause have ranged from exposure to pollen from genetically modified crops to the impact of electronic waves from cellphone towers. None have panned out.
But using a new genetic technique to identify the various microbes and viruses that inhabit bees, scientists found a strong correlation between bees infected with the IAP virus and those from hives hit with CCD.
This is the first good marker scientists have found to explain the destruction of hives and could aid beekeepers in knowing which hives to quarantine.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Scientists | Science | Agriculture | USDA | Virus | Varroa
CCD's impact on the $15-billion-a-year honeybee industry has hit the nation's farms hard because of the role that bees play in natural cycles. The nimble insects pollinate 90% to 100% of at least 19 kinds of fruits, vegetables and nuts.
Although the IAP virus was first identified in Israel, it originated in Australia. CCD started appearing in the USA the same year that U.S. beekeepers began importing bees from Australia.
Diana Cox-Foster at Pennsylvania State University and colleagues collected and tested samples from healthy and infected hives. The scientists identified seven viruses that infected bees, but the other six weren't strongly associated with CCD.
"The only candidate that was left standing at the end of this fairly rigorous system was IAP," said Ian Lipkin, an expert on immunopathogens at Columbia University and senior author of the paper. It's unlikely that IAP is the sole reason for CCD, the researchers said. Multiple factors are probably involved.
Before 2004, bees could not be imported into the USA from outside North America under Department of Agriculture rules because of concerns about diseases. USDA is evaluating what its next step should be, said spokeswoman Andrea McNally.
The good news is that there are honeybees in Israel that are genetically resistant to IAP virus. "This adds yet more argument for the urgency of beekeepers to adopt genetically resistant stock," said Keith Delaplane, an expert on honeybees at the University of Georgia in Athens.
For My thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways, my ways," declares the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isa. 55:89).
