A number of prominent people in positions of authority -- and who should know
better -- have lately been repeating conjecture as fact.

I'm talking about the slander against antibiotic extender patties.  As far as I
know, there is not a shred of proof that they are a cause of oxytetracycline
(OTC) resistance in the bacillus that causes American Foulbrood (AFB).

The mechanisms behind resistance appearing are many and generally badly
misunderstood.  Many of the ideas promulgated in the popular media are
simplistic at best and just plain wrong and dangerous at worse.

The mechanism(s) by which an organism may develop resistance to a particular
substance depends on the organism and the environment.  A practice that is a
cause of resistance developing in one case may be the prescription for
preventing resistance in another.

In the past several years, a number of mechanisms that were simply unbelievable
in the past have become common knowledge.  On is horizontal gene transfer.
Please check out http://www.sciam.com/1998/0398issue/0398levy.html where you
will find the following statement:

"Bacteria can acquire resistance genes through a few routes. Many inherit the
genes from their forerunners. Other times, genetic mutations, which occur
readily in bacteria, will spontaneously produce a new resistance trait or will
strengthen an existing one. And frequently, bacteria will gain a defence against
an antibiotic by taking up resistance genes from other bacterial cells in the
vicinity. Indeed, the exchange of genes is so pervasive that the entire
bacterial world can be thought of as one huge multicellular organism in which
the cells interchange their genes with ease."

http://www.sciam.com/1998/0398issue/0398levybox2.html is another interesting
reference, as is http://www.pilotonline.com/news/op0420ant.html

I also quote below the text of a letter I wrote to a friend of mine who is also
a regulator:

---- begin quote ---
"I notice you repeated the suggestion that extender patties may cause resistant
AFB...

I have phoned and written around to trace the origin of this rumour some time
back, and have not been able to find any credible source for it. In the process,
I have, however found a number of people I respect who think it lacks any merit
and just provides a handy scapegoat.

I personally have a very high opinion of this method of control and it
distresses me to see my neighbours who were hit hard by AFB in 1998 and saved
entirely from AFB in 1999 -- in spite of showing positive for resistant AFB due
to buying equipment from (deleted) -- scraping off the patties earlier this
spring when they read the newsletter.  I hope they don't go through the 1998
experience again.

>From my 30 years experience with AFB and the various controls, I am worried that
we are discarding the best method -- by far -- I have ever seen (since sulfa)
for AFB control -- on the basis of mere rumours and speculation.

Do you have access something that proves more than an anecdotal, hypothetical,
or circumstantial linkage? If so, I would certainly appreciate being made aware
of any evidence or scientific study that in any way proves the allegations
against a product developed by the USDA and duly tested and licensed for sale
and use in the USA.

In view of the rigour of US testing and regulation, I would expect that if there
were any merit to the hypothesis, that Mann Lake would be forced to take it off
the market.  They say that is not happening.

As for more credible explanations for emergence of resistance , I submit
horizontal gene transfer -- possibly related to accidental side-effects of
genetic modification work -- as the original cause fro the sudden emergence, and
trade in honey and bee equipment as the mode of spread.  The former is hard to
prove, but I suspect will eventually be the accepted explanation.  The latter is
obvious and ongoing: the spread in the case of equipment is not hard to follow.
As for spread due to international sale and housewives discarding honey into
open landfills and bees licking out imported honey drums, that is again hard to
trace.

How many *unique* cases of resistance evolving can we document?  And, how many
cases are just the spread of the same outbreak?"

--- end quote ----

Lets either prove this allegation -- or drive a stake through its heart once and
for all.

allen
--
A Beekeeper's Diary: http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/Diary/
Package installation & performance experiments, winter loss, fondant feeding,
Pierco vs. Permadent vs. dark comb, unwrapping bees, spring splitting tricks,
AFB, varroa, protein patties, daily mumblings and more... Thousands served...