Incidence of acute bee paralysis virus, black queen cell virus, chronic bee paralysis virus, deformed wing virus, Kashmir bee virus and sacbrood virus in honey bees (Apis mellifera) in Denmark

Samples of adult honey bees from apiaries with unusually high winter mortality and brood from hives with symptoms of disease were tested for presence of acute bee paralysis virus (ABPV), black queen cell virus (BQCV), chronic bee paralysis virus (CBPV), deformed wing virus (DWV), Kashmir bee virus (KBV) and sacbrood virus (SBV) by RT-PCR. All six viruses were detected, but the frequencies varied significantly: SBV was detected in 78 apiaries, DWV in 55, ABPV in 11, CBPV in 4, BQCV in 1 and KBV in 1. This is the first record of KBV in Denmark. A large majority of the bee samples were infected with one or more viruses. Single, dual and triple infections were observed. Nucleotide sequences of the PCR products from each virus were determined and found to be 98-99% identical to GenBank accessions except CBPV, which was only 88-90% identical to known CBPV sequences.