Heat treatment protects honey bees from crippling virus

Help for Europe’s endangered honey bee populations may be at hand now that Austrian researchers have found a way of combatting Deformed Wing Virus by heat treating larvae in brood frames.

Bee populations across Europe are in trouble but Austrian researchers have found a way of reducing the viral load in honey bee colonies which is efficient and totally free of chemicals. Researchers from engineering consultancy ECODESIGN company used funding from the HApi project to assess how well an existing product, the Varroa Controller, performs in protecting honey bees from the Deformed Wing Virus or DWV.

Further details: Heat treatment protects honey bees from crippling virus