> The fungus causing chalk brood is ubiquitous 
> on bees I believe, so while sterilising comb
> may reduce the pathogen load it certainly 
> will not remove it.

Yes, that was my exact point, but I await Peter's apparently divergent
viewpoint on this.  
I would not expect comb sterilization to have any impact on incidences of
chalkbrood. 

> My understanding is that acetic acid fumigation
>  will not kill AFB spores.

Nope, it won't.  I have always burned individual comb frames that even smell
funny, but I also have a replacement schedule where brood frames are melted
and recycled every 5 years.  My wife has a very good nose for AFB, but in an
urban setting, with a large population of novices, I have found that AFB has
a hard time getting established in the city in the face of so much varroa
infestation and winter starvation.  A "blessing" of modern times.  

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