> the use of the very effective Terramycin extender 
> patties saved many beekeepers money in the short 
> term, but quickly led to the development of OTC-resistant AFB.

A more complete accounting would be more fair to the victims of this
problem.   First, only a few areas have had OTC-resistant AFB outbreaks.
Medhat had quite a problem with it up in Alberta, but bordering provinces
did not.  Second, those who "over-used" OTC would have happily continued to
alternate between OTC and the Sulfa drugs if they could, but the sulfa drugs
became verboten, leaving them only with OTC.   The lack of something with
which to alternate seems to have been the proximate cause of the resistant
AFB.

The other interesting point here was that Sulfa, despite a wide range of
unenlightened misuse and abuse, did not create resistant AFB.
OTC did.  One could blame the long-term exposure of the "patties" in which
it was deployed, or one could blame the fact that Sulfa was able to do in
one short-term treatment what OTC could not.

Now that Tylan is available, those convinced that antibiotics are a good
tool to control AFB could alternate between OTC and Tylan, but the Tylan
turns out the be far more persistent than anyone thought, with fall Tylan
treatments resulting in residues in the following summer's first honey
harvest, as reported by the president of the CHC. I suspect that Tylan will
turn out to be a poor choice in light of these findings.

Whenever something goes wrong in beekeeping, the victims are blamed for a
reckless lack of prudence in the care they show for the bees that provide
them with their livelihood.   I wish this would stop.  Yes, treating
everything prophylactically all the time is bad, everyone gets it.  So do
the large operations that are accused of these practices.		

For a long time, EPA was reluctant to approve more than one treatment for
any one apiary pest or pathogen, and this was a major aspect of this sort of
problem.  We can't expect people to alternate their treatments if they don't
have multiple treatments approved.  



             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html