# DWV damages bees, even when no overt symptoms are visible



## JWChesnut (Jul 31, 2013)

Damaging effect of DWV -- just from elevated virus titer with no overt symptoms 

Free download - https://lirias.kuleuven.be/bitstream/123456789/562623/1/benaets_etal_procb_2017.pdf

Covert deformed wing virus infections have long-term
deleterious effects on honeybee foraging and survival
Kristof Benaets1, Anneleen Van Geystelen1, Dries Cardoen1, Lina De Smet

Abstract
Several studies have suggested that covert stressors can contribute to bee colony declines. Here we
provide a novel case study and show using radio-frequency identification (RFID) tracking technology
that covert deformed wing virus (DWV) infections in adult honeybee workers seriously impact longterm
foraging and survival under natural foraging conditions. In particular, our experiments show
that adult workers injected with low doses of DWV experienced increased mortality rates, that DWV
caused workers to start foraging at a premature age, and that the virus reduced the workers’ total
activity span as foragers. Altogether, these results demonstrate that covert deformed wing virus
infections have strongly deleterious effects on honey bee foraging and survival. These results are
consistent with previous studies that suggested DWV to be an important contributor to the ongoing
bee declines in Europe and the US. Overall, our study underlines the strong impact that covert
pathogen infections can have on individual and group-level performance in bees.


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## Bee Arthur (Mar 21, 2015)

Thanks for posting. I believe the Jan ABJ had a very short snippet about this, but the editors did a horrible job of communicating the meat of the study...which is the norm for the editors of both of our big bee magazines.


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## fatshark (Jun 17, 2009)

Dainat et al., 2012 Dead or alive: deformed wing virus and Varroa destructor reduce the life span of winter honeybees. Applied Environmental Microbiology is also worth a read. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3273028/


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