REPORT OF SIX VIRAL INFECTIONS THAT AFFECT

REYNALDI, F.J.; SGUAZZA, G.H.; BACCI, M; GALOSI, C.M.; TIZZANO, M. A.; PECORARO M.I.R.

Ciudad Autònoma de Buenos Aires

Congreso; 42 Congreso Internacional de Apicultura APIMONDIA; 2011

Sociedad Argentina de Apicultores SADA

Honey is one of the most important agricultural products for export in Argentina. In fact, more than 3.5 million beehives and 50 000 beekeepers are related with this production. It is known that the interactions between environmental and beekeeping parameters added to the effect of different diseases may result in a sudden collapse of the colony. Lately, virus infections have emerged as one of the causes of bee mortality in Argentina however, very few data are known. For this reason, the aim of this work was to investigate the presence of Acute Bee Paralysis Viruses (ABPV), Cronic Bee Paralysis Viruses (CBPV), Sacbrood Viruses (SBV), Deformed Bee Viruses (DWV), Black Queen Cell Viruses (BQCV) and Israeli Acute Paralysis Viruses (IAPV) in apiaries of Argentina. One hundred and seventy samples (consisting of a pool of 30–50 adult worker honeybees) from different regions of Argentina were used for the analisis. All samples were taken from apiaries with a recent history of sudden collapse of colonies. No clinical sings of American Foulbrood (Paenibacillus larvae) or varroatosis (Varroa destructor) were seen in these apiaries. A RT-PCR assay was used to detect these viruses and the survey was carried out from December 2008 to Decembre 2010. The percentage of infection found was: IAPV (45.9%), DWV (37.1%), SBV (13.6%), CBPV (12.3%), ABPV (7.7%) and BQCV (3.5%). Twenty nine apiaries (17,1%) were co-infected with different combinations of two viruses. Three apiaries (1.8%) were co-infected with different combinations of three viruses and only one sample (0.6%)with four viruses (ABPV, SBV, DWV and IAPV).  We found a low rate of co-infection with more than one virus when compared with other South American countries, but a high percentage of infection with IAPV and DWV. Our result demonstrated that the viruses investigated were widespread in the analysed apiaries.