British scientists found colonies of the honey bee that are infected with ‘chronic bee paralysis’ rose nearly 200-fold between 2007 and 2017. The disease is caused by the chronic bee paralysis virus (CBPV), and infected bees die within a week, leading to piles of dead honey bees outside hives. Clusters of chronic CBPV where disease cases are found close together, are also becoming more frequent, the researchers report. Infected honey bees can't fly and so can also be seen crawling in front of the hives. Image shows a sollitary honey bee infected with the chronic bee paralysis virus (CBPV), deprived of its hair leaving an odd greasy-looking bodyThe researchers used observations of chronic bee paralysis from BeeBase to investigate the spread in English and Welsh apiaries over 12 years.

Source: Daily Mail May 01, 2020 13:13 UTC