Honey Bees: A New Species for Veterinarians?

American College of Veterinary Prevention Medicine (ACVPM) &

Clinician Outreach and Communication Activity (COCA)Webinar

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response

Division of Emergency Operations

1

Objectives

At the conclusion of this session, the participant

will be able to:

Describe why beekeepers are now calling veterinarians.

Explain the veterinary client patient relationship as it applies to veterinarians, beekeepers, and honey bees.

Describe common bacterial infections of honey bees and use of antibiotics in honey bees.

List some of the opportunities for veterinarians in honey bee veterinary medicine.

2

Continuing Education Disclaimer

CDC, our planners, and their spouses or partners wish to disclose they have no financial interests or other relationships with the manufacturers of commercials products, suppliers of commercial services, or commercial services, with the exception of Dr. Cripps. He would like to disclose that he will mention the availability, use, and status of Fumagilin which is an antibiotic used to control Nosema. Fumagilin is allowed into the US from Canada under FDA enforcement discretion.

Planners have reviewed content to ensure there is no bias.

3

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Today’s Presenters

Christopher J Cripps, DVMBetterBee

5

Honey Bees and Veterinarians

Christopher J Cripps, DVM

Betterbee

The Northeast Center for Beekeeping, LLC

Greenwich, NY

chris@betterbee.com

Chris Cripps

• Started beekeeping with the Boy Scout Beekeeping Merit Badge in mid 80’s in New Hampshire

• Cornell – classes in Bee Biology with labs

• Ohio – DVM OSU• Inspector for 2 counties (Columbus area)

• Moved 6 hives to a horse farm in Ohio from NH

Chris Cripps

• New York – Greenwich• Arrived in 1995 with 6 hives, all my stuff, and $10 in the

back of a U-haul

• Kept up to 12 hives, sold honey, moved bees for pollination

• Worked as dairy veterinarian at Battenkill Veterinary Bovine

• September 2012 – bought Betterbee (bee supply business) and left veterinary practice??? Now partners with veterinarians Joe Cali and Jack Rath

Honey Bee Veterinary Practices

• With 3 veterinarians, I thought we had the largest group of veterinarians in honey bees

• Visited Wilbanks Apiary in Claxton, Georgia

• 7 veterinarians worked there one year-Argentinians

Honey Bees

• Veterinary curricula in many countries include honey bees

• USA and Canadian schools do not include bees• Don’t worry, you did not miss it, it is not offered

• New antibiotic labeling and registration requires a veterinarian to write an order for any antibiotic to be fed to animals

• Honey Bees are Food Producing Animals that have been fed antibiotics

• Only insect listed as food producing animal

FDA

• Food Safety Modernization Act• Start to work proactively to eliminate problems

• National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria

• Eliminate use of medically-important antibiotics for growth promotion in food-producing animals and bring other agricultural uses of antibiotics for treatment, control and prevention of disease under veterinary oversight.

• Redo approvals of Over the Counter antibiotics as prescription or veterinary feed directive and remove growth promotion claims

• January 1, 2017 took effect and changes done.

Honey Bees and AntibioticsHow did it work previously?

• Antibiotics with labels for Honey Bees:

• Oxytetracycline• Tylosin• Lincomycin

• Indications: for the control of American or European Foulbrood

• Self-reporting survey 2015 of ~5000 beekeepers about 1/14 reported antibiotic use

• They averaged ~900 hives• Small beekeepers less apt to use

antibiotics

Honey Bees and AntibioticsHow did it work before?

• Commercial beekeepers feed antibiotics to prevent disease

• mostly oxytetracycline mixed in sugar that has been over the counter

• Little understanding of bacteriology• Oxytet to start• Tylosin used if oxytet doesn’t work• Lincomycin seldom used

• Gather hives in highly populated areas for pollination – California almonds, Maine blueberries

• “Cesspools of disease” that cannot be avoided because the pay is so good and may mean the difference between having a profit or loss for the year

Honey Bees and AntibioticsHow did it work before?

• Prior to transportation, must obtain a certificate of inspection

• Issued by state apiarist

• Bee inspectors visit apiaries, remove brood from a percent of hives (~10%). Submit samples to USDA if any concerns or issue health certificate if no concerns

• Veterinary epidemiologist might help – what percentage of frames should be inspected to find disease assuming 1% prevalence?

Honey Bees and AntibioticsHow did it work before?

• Positive American Foulbrood (AFB) may invoke state-mandated burning of affected hives

• Long lasting spores are contagious to other hives within 3 mile radius

• Burning beehives worth $500 each makes beekeepers wary of outside inspection

Beekeepers Like Other Food Producers

• Frugal

• Expect value for money spent

• Veterinarians sell what?• Knowledge and disease control techniques

• Signature on antibiotic orders that beekeeper did not previously need to have

• If you come to the table to offer services, make sure you offer value

• Get Educated!

Important Points in Bee Biology

• Complete Metamorphosis

• Eggs, Larvae, Pupae, Adult• 1 to 2,000 eggs per day

• Worker egg to adult • 21 days

• Queen egg to adult• 16.5 days

• Drone egg to adult• 24 days• Important for Varroa

Mites!

Important Points in Bee Biology

• 3 distinct castes of bees:• Queen (diploid) – fertile

female that lays eggs

• Workers (diploid) –infertile females that care for young (brood), gather food, clean and defend hive.

• Drones (haploid) – males that breed queens

Bee Sex and Genetics

• Queen emerges from cell

• After a week of maturing in the hive, starts mating flights

• Mates with 8-20+ drones over next week

• Never mates again

• Does not mate with drones in hive

• Sperm must live many years in queen’s spermatheca

• Effect of sub-lethal insults?• Pesticides, temperature, viruses

Reverend Lorenzo Langstroth• Langstroth 1852

• “Bee Space” = 3/8 inch

• If combs are spaced that far apart, bees will respect the space and not fill it with comb or propolis (gums and resins from plants)

• Combs built in frames can be removable so disease inspection is possible.

• Legal requirement in all states

Wax Production

• Carbohydrate drives glands on abdomen in young workers

• Feeding sugar can push more wax production

• Wax used to make all comb

• Paper used by wasps and hornet, not bees!

• Lipophilic chemicals persist in wax

• Chronic pesticide exposure

Lots of brood leads to a lot of bees which lead to a lot of honey

• Package of bees is 3 lbs• Common way to start

• Contains ~10,000 bees

• Colony that survived winter will be small and grow through the year

• Having a lot of bees leads to more pollination or nectar collection.

Starter Bee Colonies• Beekeepers obtain small

starter colonies.

• Packages • 3 lb bees with queen and food

• Nucleus colony• Small established colony with

laying queen

• Swarm• Local hive trying to reproduce

by issuing a swarm

• With active queen, lots of brood and colony grows

Active Bee Colonies

Honey Bee Food Storage

• Protein = pollen• Need variety of pollens

for a balanced Amino Acid profile

• Carbohydrates = nectar• Perhaps 20% solids

converted to 17% water• Invertase, dehydration

• Mixture, ferment = bee bread

• Do fungicides hurt bees?

Honey Bees, Directions and Food

• Drifting

• Bees make orientation flights to determine where their hive is before foraging.

• Bees may return to wrong hive if many in same area

• Welcomed if they have food

• Robbing

• Strong hives defend themselves from robbing

• Weak hives robbed by strong hives

• Drifting and Robbing can lead to disease spread

Winter Time• Honey bees keep

cluster heated throughout the winter

• ~95deg F when raising brood in January

• Hornets and wasps overwinter on or under ground as individuals

Winter Time

• Bees don’t defecate in hive

• Bees eat honey, vibrate muscles to generate heat to keep hive warm

• Need to fly to defecate

• “Cleansing Flights”

• Once below 50⁰F, cannot operate muscles, fall out of air

Protective Clothing

• Wear what you need to be comfortable

• Veils• Our eyes blinking attracts

bees

• Gloves• Leather cannot be cleaned• Avoid leather or use

beekeeper supplied gloves• Disposable nitrile gloves

• Coveralls or jackets with incorporated veils

Smokers

• Calms bees

• Burn many different materials

• Light with a propane torch

• Store safely if driving between apiaries

• Clean bellows well to avoid disease spread

Bee Stings• Stinger is modified

ovipositor• Drones do not sting

• Worker sting barbed• Rip insides of bee out• Only one sting then dead

• Swelling normal reaction• More times stung, less

swelling• Anaphylaxis possible

• Epinephrine• Diphenhydramine• Emergency room

Beekeeper Behaviors

• Work bees in a calm manner

• Sudden jarring motions elicit defensive behavior

• Falling barometric pressure, rain increase bee defensiveness

• Black colored clothing not good

• Wool or fleece not good• Bees get legs caught

• Some beekeepers put on their “Suit of armor” and go hard at bees

• Some beekeepers wear nothing but veil and are very gentle

• Crushing bees can lead to more disease

• Fecal oral spread as bees clean up dead

Veterinarians and Beekeepers

• Diseases for which antibiotics may be used

• American Foulbrood

• European Foulbrood

• Other disease treatments are:

• EPA regulated mite treatments (over the counter)

• Illegal non-medically important antibiotic allowed into USA by FDA CVM enforcement discretion (fumagilin)

To order antibiotics: 2 choices

Prescription• Requires VCPR in most states

• Typical form used in clinics

• Oxytetracycline, tylosin or lincomycin as water soluble forms

• Send prescription to licensed pharmacist or give to client or fill from veterinary clinic

• ELDU is allowed (AMDUCA)

• Keep records per state law

• Expiration max???

Veterinary Feed Directive• Requires VCPR (federal definition

if state not good enough)

• New to most veterinarians

• Oxytetracycline only

• Tylosin, Lincomycin have no VFD approval for bees

• Send to licensed medicated feed mill or distributor

• ELDU prohibited, but not enforced.

• Keep original records for 2 plus years

• Expiration max 6 months

VFD or Prescription?

• There is a lot of confusion about this.

• Whether you need a VFD or prescription is based on the labeling (NADA) of the antibiotic.

• You should not issue a VFD for a prescription drug

• There is only one antibiotic for bees that uses a VFD, there are 3 antibiotics that require a prescription

• All antibiotics are fed mixed in sugar to honey bees

• The VFD form of Oxytetracycline has other preparations as well such as syrup or patties.

Extra Label Drug Use

• All antibiotics labeled “For the CONTROL of …”• Indicates there is a diagnosis of AFB or EFB• Treating other hives to control disease spread

• Most antibiotic use will be for PREVENTION or TREATMENT

• No antibiotics labeled in honey bees for these indications

• VFD cannot be written for ELDU but RX can• New FDA announcement allows ELDU in minor species

with some restrictions. • Still too limiting to help beekeepers???

VFD – What is that anyways?

• https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/Documents/AVMA-VFD-form.pdf

• You can obtain a blank form from AVMA website or other sources.

• Your information, client information, patient information, medication, directions, holdout time.

• May also use electronic forms from various commercial providers.

Honey Bee Prescription Issues

• Identification

• Beehives tend not to be individually identified

• No state tags

• Apiaries identified by address

• Most states say you must personally visit the apiary for a valid VCPR

• Follow up may be by other means once valid VCPR is established

• Telephone

• Pictures/Email

• AVMA PLIT will acknowledge your work with bees

Honey Bee Prescription Issues

• Products available

• Feed mills may make product for VFD fulfillment

• Need not be antibiotic licensed feed mill

• Terramycin is Category I

• Type A medicated article (Terramycin) comes in bag for 8000 treatments

• Type C medicated feed is what the bees receive

• Make sure mixing is done right

• Commercial product or beekeeper being their own feed mill?

• Prescription product of oxytetracycline is in much smaller packets

Honey Bee Prescription Issues

• Should we be using antibiotics?

• European foulbrood• Can be a problem and

antibiotics can be convenient treatment

• Small queen rearing hives or nucs

• American Foulbrood• May cover up the

clinical signs and hide disease

• Still contagious

• Transfer disease to people buying used equipment

• Many people think it should not be used

• Europe prohibits

Veterinarians and Bees

• Bees need • Preventive Care• Parasite Control• Disease Diagnosis• Disease Treatment• Beekeeper education

• Who is in a better place to provide this than veterinarians?

• To provide those service, gain knowledge

• If you understand the disease and its nuances, the beekeeper may view you as a source of knowledge rather than another bill

• Join the Honey Bee Veterinary Consortium• New website to help beekeepers find veterinarians

Some Books

2015

Some Websites on Bee Disease

• http://www.honeybeeveterinaryconsortium.org

• https://beeinformed.org/

• http://scientificbeekeeping.com/• Randy Oliver

• https://www.ars.usda.gov/is/np/honeybeediseases/honeybeediseases.pdf

• http://extension.psu.edu/publications/agrs-116

Thank you!

chris@betterbee.com

Honey Bee Veterinary Consortium

www.honeybeeveterinaryconsortium.org

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