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. 2024 May 4;16(5):729.
doi: 10.3390/v16050729.

Droplet Digital RT-PCR (dd RT-PCR) Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in Honey Bees and Honey Collected in Apiaries across the Campania Region

Andrea Mancusi  1 , Yolande Thérèse Rose Proroga  1 , Paola Maiolino  2 , Raffaele Marrone  2 , Claudia D'Emilio  2 , Santa Girardi  1 , Marica Egidio  2 , Arianna Boni  3 , Teresa Vicenza  3 , Elisabetta Suffredini  3 , Karen Power  4
Affiliations

Droplet Digital RT-PCR (dd RT-PCR) Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in Honey Bees and Honey Collected in Apiaries across the Campania Region

Andrea Mancusi et al. Viruses. .

Abstract

Coronaviruses (CoVs), a subfamily of Orthocoronavirinae, are viruses that sometimes present a zoonotic character. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is responsible for the recent outbreak of COVID-19, which, since its outbreak in 2019, has caused about 774,593,066 confirmed cases and 7,028,881 deaths. Aereosols are the main route of transmission among people; however, viral droplets can contaminate surfaces and fomites as well as particulate matter (PM) in suspensions of natural and human origin. Honey bees are well known bioindicators of the presence of pollutants and PMs in the environment as they can collect a great variety of substances during their foraging activities. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible role of honey bees as bioindicators of the prevalence SARS-CoV-2. In this regard, 91 samples of honey bees and 6 of honey were collected from different apiaries of Campania region (Southern Italy) in four time periods from September 2020 to June 2022 and were analyzed with Droplet Digital RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2 target genes Orf1b and N. The screening revealed the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in 12/91 in honey bee samples and in 2/6 honey samples. These results suggest that honey bees could also be used as indicators of outbreaks of airborne pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2.

Keywords: Droplet Digital RT-PCR; SARS-CoV-2; bioindicators; honey bees.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Number of positive samples for SARS-CoV-2 in the four different sampling periods (T1–T4).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Trend of SARS-CoV-2 cases in the Campania region in the year 2020 (data obtained from ISS report).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Trend of SARS-CoV-2 cases in the Campania region in the years 2021 and 2022 (data obtained from ISS report).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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This research received no external funding.
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