First  report of sacbrood virus in honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies in  Brazil.
Sacbrood disease, an affliction of honey  bees (Apis mellifera) characterized by brood that fails to pupate and  subsequently dies, is an important threat to honey bee health. The disease is  caused by the sacbrood virus (SBV), a positive-, single-stranded RNA virus in  the order Picornavirales. Because of the economic importance of honey bees for  both pollination and honey production, it is vital to understand and monitor  the spread of viruses such as SBV. This virus has been found in many places  across the globe, including recently in some South American countries, and it  is likely that it will continue to spread. We performed a preliminary study to  search for SBV in two apiaries of Africanized honey bees in the State of São  Paulo, Brazil, using RT-PCR and Sanger sequencing and found the first evidence  of SBV in honey bee colonies in Brazil. The virus was detected in larvae,  foraging and nurse bees from two colonies, one of which had symptoms of sacbrood  disease, at the beginning of the winter season in June 2011. No SBV was found  in samples from nine other nearby colonies.
Department of Entomology, The Pennsylvania State University,  University Park, Pennsylvania, USA.
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D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000821:virology*; D001938:Brazil; D006722:Honey; D007304:Insect Viruses / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*