Well here goes,

Terramycin- brand name, oxytetracycline-generic name,  belongs to a family of antibiotics widely used in animals and humans to treat a wide variety of bacterial diseases.  Another drug in this class is tetracycline.  These antibiotics work by inhibiting protein synthesis needed by the bacteria to produce RNA which is needed to copy its DNA.  Basically, the drug works by blocking the reproduction of the bacteria.  It does not outright kill the bacteria like other classes of antibiotics.

So we put the terramycin in the hive and hope that if there are any AFB bacteria, also called spores when in their sort of dormant state, the drug will not let the bacteria reproduce creating a lot more bacteria and leading to clinical signs of an infected hive- meaning when we inspect the hive we say the hive has AFB.

Say there are 1,000,000 bacteria exposed to the drug, 999,999 have their reproductive capabilities blocked, but there is 1 that does not.  Maybe it was exposed to a lower dose, too short of time, or it has a mutation in it's DNA that makes it resistant.

So now here is what we have,  still 1,000,000 bacteria - remember the drug does not kill them, only prevents them from making more, but now 1 of that million can reproduce even when exposed to the drug.  Well the bees have an immune system - it  works different than ours, but it allows the bee to combat infections.  Hopefully the bees will quickly kill that resistant bacteria themselves.  Once it is gone we will have to wait for another 1 in a million (or whatever number) to show resistance again, but if that resistant bacteria survives, then........ there is a perfect set up for a resistant infection.

So as long as there are not too many ( I have no idea of a number of how many are too many) bacteria, the bees can kill the bacteria with the bee immune system.  The immune system works different that the antibiotic we gave - so the bees can kill the 1 out of the million resistant bacteria.

So now comes some bad luck.  A hive gets infected, sick, or whatever you want to call it with AFB.  Now there are more bacteria present than the bee's immune system can handle.   If the root of the infection is from the bacteria that happens to be resistant to the antibiotic, terramycin -we have an infected hive we can't effectively treat.  Hopefully the hive is burned, gassed, or soaked in lye to kill and destroy the bacteria in that sick hive so that the resistant bacteria are not spread.

Keep in mind that bacteria have been on earth for a lot longer than humans and they have adapted mechanisms to guarantee their survival.  Pointing fingers at another beekeeper, country, or continent as the blame has no place in this problem.  Bacteria have adapted for millions of years to survive and are adapting now in the face of our antibiotics, in bees, other animals, and people.

I'm going to stop my editorializing, and say I will check into the mechanism of action of how fluvinate, Apistan, works and compare that to the bacterial resistance issue.

>>> [log in to unmask] 04/15/01 12:31PM >>>
Why is it that mites have grown quickly resistant to Apistan but the bacteria
causing foulbrood have been slow to resist terra treatment?

Contact me at:
       Rick Green
       8 Hickory Grove Lane
       Ballston Lake, NY 12019
       (518) 384-2539
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