Save our bees: bacteriophages to protect honey bees against the pathogen causing American foulbrood in New Zealand

The European honey bee (Apis mellifera) is an important livestock animal in New Zealand. This is due to their combined pollination services and production of honey for export, notably mānuka honey. The honey bee is an imported species that is praised as a productive partner and accused as an invasive competitive species. In New Zealand this well–entrenched insect pollinator has essentially been driven to extinction outside of managed apiaries by the deadly Varroa mite (Varroa destructor). Honey bees, live in a microbial world which includes beneficial microorganisms and pathogens that cause disease. Here we review the biology and prevention of Paenibacillus larvae which causes American Foulbrood (AFB). AFB affected hives must be destroyed within seven days of discovery. Bacteriophages, the viruses of bacteria, are abundant in nature and demonstrated to protect hives against AFB infection when applied in advance of exposure. Whilst treating AFB is not allowed, P. larvae bacteriophages can be a safe and natural prophylactic for protecting honey bee colonies against AFB infection. Bacteriophages are a potent source of novel solutions to agricultural diseases caused by bacterial pathogens, and we are proponents of their development to protect our domesticated pollinators against AFB here in Aotearoa, New Zealand.