Bee-ing Sick is No Fun!

 As March comes along, so do sneezes and coughs! The flu season has begun, so it’s very important to wash your hands and cough or sneeze into your elbow bend. Just like we get sick, so do honeybees!

Honeybees have many different sicknesses that they can get. They can get viruses and fungal infections. Viruses and fungi are very, very small and can’t be seen by the regular eye. You will need a microscope to see them. A microscope is a tool scientists use to see very small objects, making them look larger.

I am a scientist in my college, and I work on helping honeybees who are sick and making medical treatments for them. I am studying the fungus called Nosema ceranae, more commonly called Nosema. Nosema can cause honeybees to be unable to fly, and in colonies with this infection, you can also see brown droppings on the outside of the hive box.

Viruses are non-living, which makes them different from fungi. This means that they need a living organism to transport them. A living organism that commonly transports viruses in the hive is the Varroa destructor mite, also known as the Varroa mite. One virus that honeybees can get is called the Deformed Wing Virus. This virus makes honeybee wings look crumpled and deformed. This means that the bee is unable to fly.

Honeybees can’t wear masks to help prevent spreading sicknesses in such close living quarters in the hive. But honeybees also have ways to avoid getting sick, called hygienic behaviors! Before a honeybee enters the hive after collecting nectar and pollen, there will be a bee at the entrance who will clean off any “germs” from her that she may have been exposed to. Also, when baby bees called larvae are still growing inside the hive comb cells, if an adult bee smells that a larva is sick, she will remove it from the hive to prevent disease.

More good news is that there are fantastic treatments that scientists are creating to help honeybees. These treatments are then sold to beekeepers so they can treat their colonies with their sicknesses and to control the spread of pests, like the Varroa mite.

Don’t forget to wash your hands, and I hope to “bee” seeing you soon!

~ Princess Emilia