Pathology Department

The past decades saw a constant decline of beekeeping throughout the European Union. One main reason for colony losses is the accumulating number of pathogens, some of which have developed resistance to chemical treatments. Diseases affecting the brood (e.g. Varroa destructor, Paenibacillus larvae, viruses) have been identified as the most dangerous pathogens.

Symptoms at the colony level are usually well known and used to diagnose the diseases. Treatments rely on chemicals, which are administered into the colony to target the pathogen. The development of such treatments is based on searching for chemicals that are toxic to the pathogen but less toxic or even harmless to the honeybee. However, the use of any chemical pesticides, though potentially in the short-term successful at the individual colony level, will not eradicate diseases at the population level as pathogen evolve pesticide resistance. In addition any chemotherapy of honeybee colonies immediately leads to contaminated honey.

The BEE SHOP therefore has the ambitious aim to totally eliminate the need for chemicals in the control of honeybee diseases In order to develop efficient disease control, it is essential to understand the infection processes at all levels: the individual bee, the colony and the apiary.

The Pathology Department of the BEE SHOP will therefore address infection processes at all organizational levels exhibited by honeybees, and will include an evolutionary epidemiology perspective, where the trade off between disease transmission and pathogen virulence will be studied. The interactions between host and pathogen will be studied to design more efficient treatments that are also effective at the population level. The BEE SHOP will work out strategies that not only increase bee tolerance to disease, but also diminish pathogen virulence and break infection pathways. This will enable us to develop novel strategies for selecting tolerant bee stock and for disease control that secure the quality and safety of honey and other bee products.