Survey of six bee viruses using RT-PCR in Northern Thailand

Presence and Prevalence of Viruses in Local and Migratory Honeybees ( Apis mellifera ) in Massachusetts

“…BQCV, which was the second most prevalent virus found in our study, has been reported in Spain, France, Hungary, Austria, and Brazil and in Denmark at a very low rate (5,15,19,21,29,30) but was not found in surveys of honeybees from Thailand (24). SBV, which was found to be prevalent in migratory bees but not in local Massachusetts bees, was also prevalent in bees from Denmark, France, and Austria (5,21,29) and absent or present at a very low rate in bees from Thailand, Hungary, and Brazil (15,26,29). Two other viruses that were not detected in Massachusetts bees, ABPV and CBPV, have been found in fairly high levels in bees from other countries, with ABPV being found in bees from Denmark, France, Hungary, Austria, Brazil, and Thailand (5,15,21,26,29,30) and CBPV in bees surveyed in France, Denmark, and Austria (5,21,30).…”

“…SBV, which was found to be prevalent in migratory bees but not in local Massachusetts bees, was also prevalent in bees from Denmark, France, and Austria (5,21,29) and absent or present at a very low rate in bees from Thailand, Hungary, and Brazil (15,26,29). Two other viruses that were not detected in Massachusetts bees, ABPV and CBPV, have been found in fairly high levels in bees from other countries, with ABPV being found in bees from Denmark, France, Hungary, Austria, Brazil, and Thailand (5,15,21,26,29,30) and CBPV in bees surveyed in France, Denmark, and Austria (5,21,30). The lack of ABPV-positive samples in this study agrees with another survey of bees done in the United States, as it was not found in any tissues of the queen bees analyzed (11).…”

“…Due to differences in methods of sampling and viruses examined, it is difficult to make comparisons between reports on the prevalence of viruses in bee populations around the world; however, some general trends are apparent. The first is that DWV, the most prevalent virus found in bees in Massachusetts, is reported in nearly every survey of bee viruses (10,19,21,26,29,30). The ubiquitous nature of DWV in honeybee populations around the world may be a result of its association with other invertebrate hosts, such as bumble bees, Bombus spp.…”

Prevalence of Four Common Bee RNA Viruses in Eastern Bee Populations in Yunnan Province, China

“…A novel strain of SBV in Chinese bees that shares 86.8% nucleotide sequence homology and 93.4% amino-acid identity with reference strains has been detected in Guangdong Province [14]. SBV infection has also been reported prevalent in our neighboring countries like Thailand [15]. The present study revealed the presence of SBV (24.1%) of the screened samples in Yunnan province, of which the highest infection rate was in Kunming (56.7%).…”

Novel detection of Israel acute paralysis virus and Kashmir bee virus from honeybees Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae) of Jordan using reverse transcriptase PCR technique

“…The lack of characteristic clinical symptoms and pathological alterations makes the recognition of most diseases difficult; therefore, the RT-PCR method amplified unique regions of the viral nucleic acid present in samples seems to be very promising in the diagnosis of bee virus infections (Blanchard et al, 2008;Sanpa and Chantawannakul, 2009). The RT-PCR assay used in this study could become a standard method in the health certification of honeybee (and honeybee products) imports and exports, and in the screening of virus preparations used in research.…”