Abstract
Honey bees are affected by several pathogens, including different RNA viruses such as Acute Bee Paralysis Virus (ABPV), Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus (CBPV) and Deformed Wing Virus (DWV). Real-time PCR (RT-PCR) is a standard method to detect these viruses, but it requires the sacrifice of bees. In this study, we tested an RT-PCR method, routinely used to detect ABPV, CBPV and DWV in bees, using hive debris as an alternative non-invasive matrix to adult bees. We analysed results both at apiary and colony levels. The performances of hive debris as an alternative matrix to bees were tested by calculating sensitivity, specificity and the Kappa index using RT-PCR results on bees as reference. At apiary level, specificity was high for ABPV and DWV, whereas sensitivity was high only for DWV. At colony level, specificity was over 75% for all the three viruses, whereas test sensitivity was poor. Hive debris has the potential to be an effective alternative matrix to detect viruses on honey bees at apiary level; therefore, new research studies focused on standardization of the sampling and RNA extraction procedure are needed to develop a reliable diagnostic tool for a field application.