Detection of acute bee paralysis virus by RT-PCR in honey bee and Varroa destructor field samples:: rapid screening of representative Hungarian apiaries

A two years survey was undertaken to determine the occurrence of Acute Bee Paralysis Virus (ABPV) in field samples of adult bees and the parasitic mite Varroa destructor. To detect the viral nucleic acid we used polymerase chain reaction following reverse transcription (RT-PCR). We demonstrated the presence of ABPV RNA in 14 from 114 seemingly healthy colony samples collected from Hungarian honey bees. The investigation revealed that two third of the apiaries were infected with ABPV at a 12.2% infection rate. In seven other apiaries out of eight investigated (87.5%) the presence of the virus was detected from colonies following a sudden collapse; these colonies were simultaneously infected with Nosema apis or infested with Varroa destructor. Virus specific nucleic acid was also identified in the mites collected from two apiaries falling into the latter category. The amplicon of RT-PCR was sequenced and the nucleic acid sequence was aligned to the complete ABPV sequence deposited in the GeneBank database revealing a 93% homology.