vaccine

The US has seen annual reductions in honey bee colonies since 2006. According to the USDA, there are many factors that have contributed to the decline. These include parasites, pests, insecticides, disease, and a phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder in which worker bees abandon a hive and leave behind the queen.

One of major threats to bee colonies is American foulbrood disease, which is a bacterial condition that attacks bee larvae. It is highly contagious and has no cure. Until now, the only treatment method required burning the colony of infected bees along with the hives and equipment and treating nearby bee colonies with antibiotics.

Recently, the USDA has approved a conditional license for the world’s first vaccine for honey bees. The vaccine contains inactive bacteria of the type that causes American foulbrood disease.

The vaccine is incorporated into the royal jelly fed by worker bees to the queen bee. The queen ingests the feed and keeps some of vaccine in her ovaries. This gives bee larvae immunity to the disease as they hatch and thereby reduces death from the illness.

According to the California State Beekeepers Association, the new vaccine could be a major breakthrough for protecting bees. Preventing the infection in hives could avoid costly, destructive measures and allow the beekeepers to focus on other important elements of keeping bees healthy.

Bees as pollinators play a critical role in many ecosystems. For humankind, pollinators such as bees, birds, and bats are responsible for about a third of the world’s crop production.

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US approves world’s first vaccine for declining honey bees

Photo, posted June 6, 2022, courtesy of Bernd Thaller via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Malaria is a parasitic disease transmitted through the bite of female Anopheles mosquitoes. Although the disease is both preventable and treatable, an estimated 435,000 people die of it each year, with the majority being children younger than five. Over 90% of all malaria cases and deaths occur in Africa.

The battle against malaria has mostly centered around the use of bed nets, insecticide spraying and antimalarial drugs. To date, there has not been an effective malaria vaccine available.

That may finally be changing. The first vaccinations have begun in Mali in a phase III trial of a malaria vaccine developed by the University of Oxford. The Oxford vaccine showed an efficacy of 77% over 12 months in a phase IIb trial and the hope is that the phase III trial will lead to the licensing of the vaccine in 2023.

Oxford is partnering with the Serum Institute of India for the manufacturing of the vaccine in order to be able to produce high volumes of low-cost vaccine and provide access to countries where it is required the most. The Serum Institute has committed to the production of more than 200 million doses per year once the vaccine is licensed for use, which will be an adequate supply for children most at risk of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa.

The World Health Organization Malaria Vaccine Technology Roadmap has a goal of a malaria vaccine with at least 75% efficacy. Such a vaccine is needed in order to reach the WHO’s goal of reducing malaria deaths by at least 90% by 2030.

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Promising malaria vaccine enters final stage of clinical testing in West Africa

Photo, posted June 9, 2018, courtesy of Mario Yordanov via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Vaccine For Bees | Earth Wise

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A Promising Malaria Vaccine | Earth Wise

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