England and Wales are losing their bee population to a deadly viral disease called chronic bee paralysis. A study finds that the disease has been affecting bees in the area for nearly a decade. From 2007 to 2017, the cases were rising 170-fold.
Once infected with the chronic bee paralysis virus, the bees die within a week, leaving behind a trail of dead honey bees outside their hives. The illness caused the bees to experience abnormal trembling, incapacity to fly, and an odd loss of hair, exposing the bees' shiny abdomens, according to scientists.
More than 24,000 beekeepers confirmed the presence of the virus in at least 45 counties in England and Wales only after data was being kept in one of the counties in 2007. Experts fear that the disease, which is likely dispersed from imports of queen bees from abroad, might threaten the production of honey in Britain.
Researchers report that bundles of chronic CBPV, in which cases are found in close proximity to each other, are also becoming more incessant.
Professor Giles Budge from Newcastle University's School of Natural and Environmental Sciences said that their investigation confirms that the illness among honey bees has been dawning up since 2007 and that beehives across the nation owned by professional beekeepers are at grave risk of the disease.
Honey bees are prerequisites for the reproductive boom of 88 percent of flowering plants universally and contribute to the harvest and quality of many crops.
The Western honey bee is one of the pollinator breed facing a lot of threats to their existence. Some of these threats include parasites, land-use intensification, and exposure to chemicals used in agriculture. The paralytic viral condition only adds to the long list of threats to these bees.
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Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus
The chronic bee paralysis is an RNA virus that leads to piles of dead bees outside affected colonies. Frequently, these bees suddenly collapse and are too feeble for pollination or honey production.
Affected adult bees carry the virus for up to six days before showing symptoms. During this time, they are likely to have infected other bees in the hive or even transmitted it to another hive when 'stealing' distant colonies.
CBPV has a worldwide dispersion, with recent cases reaching Asia, Europe, and North America. However, it was reported that only 2 percent of honey bees were affected in 1966.
Since 2006, data collected from apiary visits have been put into a national database called BeeBase, a government-backed website that gives the latest information on disease and pest outbreaks. It also allows beekeepers to report on colony health.
The researchers used observations of chronic bee paralysis from BeeBase to investigate the spread in English and Welsh apiaries over 12 years.
While the virus was only documented in Lincolnshire in 2007, it was already prevalent in 39 of 47 English counties and six of eight Welsh counties by 2017, the team later discovered.
Studies also revealed a difference between the rate of the disease's increase between professional and amateur beekeepers. It was known that the disease was found 1.98 times more in apiaries owned by professional beekeepers.
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