Short communication. First detection of Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV) in Spanish honeybees

Spanish bee samples were analyzed for the presence of Israel Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV). Some of these samples were collected from colonies presenting compatible symptoms with the colony collapse disorder (CCD, 240 out of 484) and the rest were asymptomatic. Only one of these samples was diagnosed as positive to IAPV by employing a one step RT-PCR that targets the ORF 2 of the IAPV genome. Specificity of the RT-PCR assay was evaluated by sequence analysis of size specific amplification products. IAPV nucleotide sequences already published in GeneBank were used to construct a phylogenetic tree that included the new Spanish IAPV sequence (FJ821506). They segregated in two main lineages and the Spanish isolate was mainly related with the American ones. As IAPV was detected in Spain in a very low frequency, no causal relation between IAPV and CCD in Spain was found.