Bacterial Diseases in Honeybees

Purpose of Review American foulbrood (AFB) and European foulbrood (EFB) are widely distributed and highly infectious bacterial diseases of honeybee brood causing colony losses and considerable economic strain on apiculture globally. In this review, we synthesize the most recent discoveries and achievements made towards understanding the pathogenesis and epidemiology of these two bacterial diseases and present current efforts in finding ways to combat them. Recent Findings Advancements in molecular methods, such as next-generation sequencing, have provided high-resolution insight into the epidemiological parameters and factors of virulence for the foulbroods of honeybees. Summary The recently gained detailed knowledge of the diversity, biogeography, and relatedness of strains and sub-types of the causative bacteria of AFB and EFB provides a background to study their epidemiology at many scales. Such information will help provide a more global perspective on honeybee disease epidemiology for an increasingly international beekeeping industry.