Honeybees are being ‘wiped out’ by a mystery disease sweeping Britain – The Sun

HONEYBEES are being wiped out by a mystery disease that is sweeping Britain, researchers say.

Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus causes trembling of the wings and body and jumpiness, stopping flight.

It also leads to loss of hair and rejection by healthy peers. It can contribute to the death of a whole colony.

Infected bees die within a week. This leads to piles of dead insects just outside hives, with whole colonies frequently lost.

Experts say it is being fuelled by importing queen bees from Europe.

'KILLER DISEASE' FROM EUROPE

They head colonies and beekeepers use large numbers from France, Italy, the Netherlands and other countries across the world to replenish stocks.

Now information from 130,000 bee imports from 25 countries show for the first time the disease was nearly twice as likely in apiaries owned by keepers who used them.

Since 2000, over 40,000 queens have been imported into England and Wales – a significant figure when there are only just over 230,000 colonies.

It has spread across most of England and Wales in ten years and has also been identified in Scotland.

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