From CATCH THE BUZZ

A 10-month study of healthy honey bees by University of California, San Francisco scientists has identified four new viruses that infect bees, while revealing that each of the viruses or bacteria previously linked to colony collapse is present in healthy hives as well.

The study followed 20 colonies in a commercial beekeeping operation of more than 70,000 hives as they were transported across the country pollinating crops, to answer one basic question: what viruses and bacteria exist in a normal colony throughout the year?

The results depict a distinct pattern of infections through the seasons and provide a normal baseline for researchers studying a colony – the bee population within a hive – that has collapsed. Findings are reported in the June 7 issue of the Public Library of Science ONE (PLoS ONE)

The study tracked 27 unique viruses that afflict honey bees, including four that previously were unknown and others proposed as causes of the Colony Collapse Disorder that has been wiping out colonies for the past five years, according to senior author Joe DeRisi, PhD, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and professor of biochemistry and biophysics at UCSF.

To read the complete study, click here.