Sacbrood virus or SBV disease is an infectious disease caused by the ''Morator aetatulas'' virus that affects
honey bee
A honey bee (also spelled honeybee) is a eusocial flying insect within the genus ''Apis'' of the bee clade, all native to Afro-Eurasia. After bees spread naturally throughout Africa and Eurasia, humans became responsible for the current co ...
larvae. When sick, the colony declines gradually with few or no replacement workers, costing 20-80% of
honey
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...
production.
Reasons
SBV is caused by the ''M. aetatulas'' virus. Transmission is due to bees taking care of larvae, other bees entering the colony to steal, bees entering the wrong hive through a source of flowers, or through
beekeeper
A beekeeper is a person who keeps honey bees.
Beekeepers are also called honey farmers, apiarists, or less commonly, apiculturists (both from the Latin '' apis'', bee; cf. apiary). The term beekeeper refers to a person who keeps honey bees i ...
s' activities (changing bridges, importing hives, etc). The disease spreads and flares up when the operation of importing bee breeds is not controlled.
According to Borchert, when studying the disease in 1966, one diseased larva could infect 3,000 healthy larvae. Bailey in 1981 claimed that the liquid in a killed larva containing 1 mg of virus can infect all worker larvae of 1,000 healthy bees.
Symptoms
When sick bees go to work, particularly heavy hives noticed that bees take dead larvae out of the nest. The
screw cap A screw cap or closure is a common type of closure for bottles, jars, and tubes.
Usage
A screw closure is a mechanical device which is screwed on and off of a "finish" on a container. Either continuous threads or lugs are used. It must be engi ...
on the pupil surface is sunken, and a few small pinholes are present. The larvae die at the new stage screw cap (
pupa
A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in thei ...
). At the pointed tip of the diseased larva protruding between the nest holes, the tip of the larvae tilts towards the abdomen. At the larvae's end is a small transparent water bag. Dead larvae have no odor.
Prevention and treatment
The best preventative measures are hygiene of means, transporting tools and beekeeping tools when trading, importing, and transporting bees and products, as well as inspecting and interacting with bees; when importing the breeds, choose healthy, clean and clear hives.
Antibiotics
An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and prevention o ...
do not affect this disease. Biological techniques such as replacing the sick lord with a royal cap or silk thread, confining the hive for 8-10 days, removing bridges so that the bees thicken the remaining bridges, feeding 5-6 nights in a row to transfer to a new and better source of flowers and isolation from other bee farms and merging the weakening hive.
See also
*
Evolution of the Sacbrood Virus
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q18965366
Iflaviridae
Western honey bee pests
Bee diseases