Viruses and vectors tied to honey bee colony losses

Abstract

Commercial beekeepers in the US reported severe colony losses early in 2025, as colonies were being staged for their critical role in the almond pollination season in California. Average reported losses since the preceding spring exceeded 60%, with substantial variation among operations. Many colonies were still actively collapsing in January 2025, at which time pooled and individual samples were collected and then screened for levels of 13 known honey bee pathogens and parasites. Acute bee paralysis virus and other known viral pathogens were found at high levels in pooled bee samples from all collapsing apiaries. Nevertheless, viral loads did not differ between healthy colonies and colonies in active collapse. However, individual bees exhibiting shaking behaviors and morbidity showed distinctly higher loads of two strains of deformed wing virus. Differences between these two analyses suggest that direct collections of morbid bees provide a complementary diagnostic for causal viruses, a suggestion supported by inoculation experiments that successfully replicated observed pathologies. Since these viruses are known to be vectored by the parasitic mite Varroa destructor, mites from collapsed colonies were in turn screened for resistance to amitraz, a critical miticide used widely by beekeepers, including all beekeepers surveyed in this study. A genetic trait linked with miticide resistance was found in all collected mites, underscoring the urgent need for new control strategies for this parasite. While viruses are a likely end-stage cause of colony death, other stressors such as nutritional stress and agrochemicals may have also played significant roles.