Interest, Apprehension, and Perspectives on Incorporating Honeybees (Apis mellifera) into Veterinary Practices

Courtney Wallner Author

04/03/2021 Added

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This study seeks to examine the knowledge and opinions of US-licensed veterinarians on both honeybees (Apis mellifera) and incorporating apiology into veterinary medicine.

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[00:00:01.000]Hi there everyone.
[00:00:01.833]My name is Courtney Wallner
[00:00:02.860]and I'm a senior undergraduate entomology
[00:00:04.900]and pre-veterinary medicine major.
[00:00:06.850]I'm here to tell you about my project,
[00:00:08.290]interest, apprehension and perspectives
[00:00:10.240]on incorporating honeybees into veterinary practices.
[00:00:13.100]I was advised by Dr. Doug Golick
[00:00:14.470]of UNL's entomology department
[00:00:16.320]and Dr. Roberto Cortinas
[00:00:17.920]of the school of veterinary medicine
[00:00:19.320]and biomedical sciences.
[00:00:21.720]Of the more than $100 billion
[00:00:23.557]that animal agriculture contributed
[00:00:25.500]to the US economy in 2017,
[00:00:27.620]honey, pollination services and wax products
[00:00:29.810]contributed $4.7 billion of it.
[00:00:32.380]Over the past 20 years,
[00:00:33.570]the USDA has reported a consistent increase
[00:00:35.710]in honey consumption in Americans
[00:00:37.360]and unsurprisingly, an increase in the population
[00:00:39.550]of beekeepers as well.
[00:00:41.140]Honey is classified as an animal product
[00:00:42.920]and honeybees themselves are classified
[00:00:44.480]as food producing animals by the FDA.
[00:00:46.660]However, they are the only food producing animal
[00:00:49.470]that American veterinarians are not trained to,
[00:00:51.320]nor legally authorized to treat and manage.
[00:00:54.320]In 2015, the FDA created what is called
[00:00:57.040]the Veterinary Feed Directive or the VFD.
[00:00:59.780]The VFD tasked veterinarians with administering
[00:01:02.030]and overseeing the use of antibiotics in feed
[00:01:04.150]for all food producing animals,
[00:01:06.070]in response to the ever-growing problem
[00:01:07.640]of anti-microbial resistance.
[00:01:09.560]Now, this originally did not impact honeybees,
[00:01:11.770]in 2017, VFD was updated to include medically important
[00:01:15.410]antimicrobials in honeybees.
[00:01:17.220]Now all of a sudden veterinarians became responsible
[00:01:19.530]for the antibiotic consumption
[00:01:21.160]of the 2 million American honeybee colonies overnight,
[00:01:24.140]despite never having any mandated education
[00:01:26.210]or training on honeybee health in their schooling
[00:01:28.280]and licensing programs.
[00:01:29.870]Certain honeybee diseases such as European
[00:01:31.970]or American foulbrood can be treated with antibiotics
[00:01:34.490]that beekeepers used to get over the counter.
[00:01:36.770]Now, in order to access these medicines,
[00:01:38.710]a veterinarian must both prescribe it
[00:01:40.530]and oversee its application.
[00:01:42.950]To add another layer of complexity,
[00:01:44.390]veterinarians don't even have the authority
[00:01:46.030]to legally confirm a diagnosis of American foulbrood
[00:01:48.620]in a hive.
[00:01:49.617]Only the state apiarist can do that,
[00:01:51.850]Who's an agent of the state's department of agriculture.
[00:01:54.510]A state apiarist who wishes to treat a hive
[00:01:56.420]with antibiotics must now collaborate with the veterinarian
[00:01:59.080]despite never having to do so in the past.
[00:02:01.750]This creates quite a demand problem.
[00:02:03.490]According to the Honey Bee Veterinary Consortium,
[00:02:05.520]out of the 28 to 32,000 veterinary clinics
[00:02:08.460]that are currently operating in the United States,
[00:02:10.610]there are only 28 reported bee friendly clinics,
[00:02:13.290]that's less than 0.1%.
[00:02:16.210]All this information led me to research,
[00:02:17.910]what, if any exposure vets have to bees
[00:02:20.120]while they are in school or while they were practicing?
[00:02:22.460]I found three major things.
[00:02:24.000]One, to become a licensed vet in the United States,
[00:02:26.870]vets must take the NAVLE,
[00:02:28.210]or the North American Veterinary Licensing Examination.
[00:02:31.260]This exam test perspective vets
[00:02:33.110]on their knowledge of 12 different animal classes
[00:02:35.160]including all food producing animals besides the honeybee.
[00:02:38.900]The American Veterinary Medical Association
[00:02:41.509]does provide a PDF guide
[00:02:43.020]on basic honeybee knowledge.
[00:02:44.690]In addition to occasionally advertising
[00:02:46.470]honeybee related continuing education opportunities
[00:02:48.810]to currently vets.
[00:02:50.010]And three, some vet schools offer beekeeping electives,
[00:02:53.150]and focus on elective here.
[00:02:54.930]I was lucky enough to work, Dr. Jean Mukherjee, DACVM,
[00:02:58.140]who helped implement this beekeeping elective class
[00:03:00.420]at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine.
[00:03:02.520]However, she found that despite students loving the class,
[00:03:05.300]none had pursued honeybees
[00:03:06.450]in their practice post-graduation.
[00:03:09.030]Given their economic and agricultural significance
[00:03:11.490]to the USA, in addition to the 2017
[00:03:13.357]amendment to the VFD,
[00:03:15.250]I was surprised to see how little American vets
[00:03:17.280]were involved with bees.
[00:03:18.500]Now I just needed to figure out why that was.
[00:03:21.000]There were three specific questions I wanted to answer.
[00:03:23.330]One, what do vets currently know about honeybees?
[00:03:25.810]Two, what are their main apprehensions and barriers
[00:03:27.970]that are stopping them from accepting bees as patients?
[00:03:30.200]And three, what do vets think about the future
[00:03:32.290]of apiology in veterinary medicine?
[00:03:34.870]This study is the first of its kind.
[00:03:36.540]The results are intended to provide novel insights
[00:03:38.680]on the obstacles that are preventing American veterinarians
[00:03:41.070]from practicing medicine on honeybees.
[00:03:42.890]The data I collect will paint a picture
[00:03:44.700]of what makes vets apprehensive
[00:03:46.360]and what can be done to alleviate their apprehensions,
[00:03:48.520]and the longterm perspectives
[00:03:49.750]on the role honeybees will play
[00:03:50.890]in American veterinary medicine.
[00:03:53.620]To answer the three main questions I had,
[00:03:55.410]I devised a 25 question survey.
[00:03:57.590]I also asked a few non identifying demographic questions
[00:04:00.370]to gain a better understanding
[00:04:01.560]of the diversity of my respondents.
[00:04:03.440]The survey was distributed to veterinarians
[00:04:05.170]and veterinary technicians via Qualtrics.
[00:04:07.570]For distributions, I contacted various state
[00:04:10.380]and national veterinary interest groups
[00:04:12.140]and asked them to give their members access to my survey.
[00:04:14.940]I allowed the interest groups to distribute my survey
[00:04:17.130]however they felt it would be best done,
[00:04:18.990]which tended to be via social media or monthly newsletters.
[00:04:22.160]I had about 106 responses to use for analysis.
[00:04:26.210]My survey set out to answer three main questions.
[00:04:28.410]And the first of which was,
[00:04:29.490]what do American veterinarians know about bees?
[00:04:32.080]I found that over 20% of my respondents
[00:04:34.100]did not learn anything about bees
[00:04:35.410]in their professional schools.
[00:04:36.560]And that over 40% had either learned nothing
[00:04:38.810]or only learned about bee stings.
[00:04:41.150]In most European countries, Australia, New Zealand,
[00:04:43.820]and a handful of South American countries,
[00:04:45.910]honeybees are also part of the vet school curriculum
[00:04:48.010]and included on licensing exams.
[00:04:49.890]I wanted to know how many American vets
[00:04:51.540]were aware of this fact.
[00:04:52.840]A staggering 80% of my respondents
[00:04:55.140]could not name any countries
[00:04:56.310]whose veterinarian treated bees.
[00:04:58.230]I was also curious that this lack of awareness
[00:05:00.310]had any relationship to what the respondents already knew
[00:05:02.860]about honeybees, and found a significant relationship
[00:05:05.450]between the two factors.
[00:05:06.920]Unaware veterinarians and vet techs
[00:05:08.760]were significantly less confident
[00:05:10.330]when it came to the basics of honeybee biology and behavior.
[00:05:13.510]Similarly, I also found that these unaware vets
[00:05:15.680]were significantly less familiar
[00:05:17.330]with some of the major diseases that honeybees face,
[00:05:19.540]including the diseases that would require
[00:05:21.190]an antibiotic prescription.
[00:05:23.210]The next main question I set out to answer
[00:05:24.740]revolves around the apprehensions that American vets have
[00:05:27.040]around treating honeybees.
[00:05:28.410]A significant amount of respondents
[00:05:29.940]felt uncomfortable or unsure about treating bees
[00:05:32.370]or prescribing them antibiotics.
[00:05:34.140]And why exactly is that?
[00:05:35.890]The most popular answer
[00:05:36.960]with around 36% of respondents and agreement,
[00:05:39.340]cited ignorance of what the job would entail exactly.
[00:05:42.400]The next most popular answer
[00:05:43.720]was that they did not receive any training or education
[00:05:46.160]about bee medicine whilst in school.
[00:05:48.870]As for the vets who said they were unsure about seeing bees
[00:05:51.050]in their practices, a large majority stated
[00:05:53.230]that they wished to become more familiar
[00:05:54.620]with bees beforehand.
[00:05:55.590]And the next most popular answer was again,
[00:05:57.360]ignorance of what seeing bees would entail.
[00:05:59.840]The most important question I asked my respondents however,
[00:06:02.141]is what exactly their major apprehensions are
[00:06:04.560]before accepting bees as patients?
[00:06:06.440]I provided a list of eight categories
[00:06:08.140]that they could sort as an apprehension
[00:06:09.600]or not an apprehension.
[00:06:11.130]Over 50% of respondents said that their lack of training
[00:06:13.880]and education in apiculture
[00:06:15.340]was in fact an apprehension.
[00:06:17.770]In order to gain an idea of what the veterinary field
[00:06:20.330]can do to change this, I provided a potential solution
[00:06:23.110]for each apprehension category.
[00:06:25.290]The solutions I proposed for lack of training,
[00:06:27.360]lack of education and business viability
[00:06:29.680]had significant number of respondents say
[00:06:31.490]that it would alleviate their apprehensions.
[00:06:33.950]These solutions are outlined in the table on the right,
[00:06:35.930]and for sake of time, I won't read them out loud.
[00:06:38.930]I also looked at the differences
[00:06:40.010]between what categories of respondents
[00:06:41.550]listed as not apprehensions.
[00:06:43.640]The categories that are highlighted
[00:06:44.970]were listed by more respondents
[00:06:46.370]as non apprehensions than apprehensions.
[00:06:48.970]Nearly three fourths of respondents
[00:06:50.650]did not find monetary costs to be a barrier to them.
[00:06:53.450]More than 80% of respondents
[00:06:54.633]said the same thing for fear of being stung,
[00:06:56.640]lack of interest, and allergies to bee stings.
[00:06:59.200]The last question I sought out to answer
[00:07:01.230]was what does the future hold
[00:07:02.470]for honeybees in veterinary medicine?
[00:07:04.870]Though nearly a quarter of respondents were unsure
[00:07:06.810]and more than 5% said there was no future,
[00:07:08.970]the other 70% had a positive outlook on the future of bees
[00:07:12.040]in vet med.
[00:07:13.020]A large number of respondents
[00:07:14.080]cited that because veterinarian's essential roles
[00:07:16.440]in both food, security and environmental health,
[00:07:18.690]the future of bees and the future of vets
[00:07:20.390]must be intertwined.
[00:07:21.840]Another large portion cited the need for bee medicine
[00:07:24.080]to be taught in vet school.
[00:07:26.180]I next asked about the specific roles
[00:07:27.870]veterinarians could have in relation to honeybees.
[00:07:30.130]When asked if veterinarians
[00:07:31.150]should have a role on pesticide regulation,
[00:07:33.090]the majority of respondents said absolutely.
[00:07:35.670]The responses of those who said no,
[00:07:37.160]can be seen on the rights.
[00:07:39.270]I also asked what the respondent's supportiveness
[00:07:41.370]would be in the formation of a specialty board
[00:07:43.560]for honeybee health, and their interest
[00:07:45.260]in becoming an agent of their state apiarists,
[00:07:47.400]which should include helping them out
[00:07:48.630]with hive inspections and management.
[00:07:50.830]I can not find any significant relationships or correlations
[00:07:53.560]that could predict the respondent support
[00:07:55.390]of forming a specialty board.
[00:07:56.870]However, I was able to find a slightly significant
[00:07:59.550]positive relationship between the awareness
[00:08:01.460]of respondents of vets that practice bee medicine
[00:08:04.330]and their interest in becoming an agent
[00:08:05.850]of the state apiarist.
[00:08:07.040]That was the only significant relationship though.
[00:08:10.340]This survey is the first of its kind
[00:08:13.130]and can provide a lot of insight on how to tackle
[00:08:15.090]the delay of American veterinarians accepting honeybees
[00:08:17.500]into their world.
[00:08:18.610]One of the most profound findings of this study
[00:08:20.410]was that there was no significant predictor
[00:08:22.170]when it comes to supporting the bees flight
[00:08:24.020]into vet medicine.
[00:08:25.460]But the majority of veterinarians
[00:08:26.750]were still very supportive of the process.
[00:08:28.770]This indicates that there's not one type of vets,
[00:08:30.830]nor years of experience working as a vet,
[00:08:33.060]nor even experienced working as a beekeeper
[00:08:34.880]that is deterring vets from pursuing bee medicine.
[00:08:37.740]What is deterring vets however,
[00:08:39.160]is the total lack or insufficient training and education
[00:08:42.130]they received whist they were students.
[00:08:44.009]In (indistinct) physiology and bee husbandry
[00:08:46.340]are difficult subjects to add onto an already busy schedule.
[00:08:49.510]That is why incorporating honeybee curriculum
[00:08:51.370]into vet schools and eventually onto the NAVLE
[00:08:53.410]is so essential.
[00:08:54.860]If vets students or vets can not find
[00:08:56.850]the time to learn apiology on their own,
[00:08:59.010]making it core to their education
[00:09:00.530]is a shot far way to circumvent this.
[00:09:03.240]A possible idea to improve education
[00:09:05.040]is to start while veterinarians are young,
[00:09:06.670]as an undergraduate pre-vet majors.
[00:09:08.950]The addition of entomology and beekeeping courses
[00:09:11.060]to the pre-veterinary course requirements,
[00:09:12.920]in addition to campaigning to pre-vet majors
[00:09:15.080]about all the opportunity that is to come with bee medicine
[00:09:17.570]in the United States,
[00:09:18.660]is a great way to gain background knowledge
[00:09:20.430]and interest in bee medicine.
[00:09:22.010]If students are entering vet school
[00:09:23.350]with a base of knowledge in honeybee health,
[00:09:25.570]biology, and husbandry, they will be much better prepared
[00:09:29.100]for advanced classes in vet schools
[00:09:30.660]as well as different continuing education opportunities
[00:09:33.280]later on.
[00:09:35.600]Though, my survey got a good number of respondents,
[00:09:37.410]an important next step would be attempting
[00:09:38.639]to survey the areas of the United States
[00:09:40.690]that I got poor response numbers from,
[00:09:42.290]which is primarily the Northern Midwest and the South.
[00:09:45.020]Also understanding the needs
[00:09:46.360]and wants of the beekeepers themselves
[00:09:47.860]will be an important part of this story.
[00:09:49.710]It is likely that beekeepers need for veterinary aid
[00:09:51.960]will be greater in areas in which pollination services
[00:09:54.430]for cash crops are heavily utilized,
[00:09:56.160]like in California or Hawaii.
[00:09:58.060]Once the need of beekeepers is better understood,
[00:10:00.240]we can work on further establishing the relationship
[00:10:02.370]between honeybees and American veterinarians.
[00:10:05.640]I'd like to thank UCARE for funding this project.
[00:10:07.710]And I'd like to thank you all for watching.

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Interest, Apprehension, and Perspectives on Incorporating Honeybees (Apis mellifera) into Veterinary Practices

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