I did not get into this discussion when it first came up as I was too busy
at the time.

New York State did away with its inspection program in the early/mid 90s (I
don't trecall the exact date, but believe it was closer to the beginning of
the decade).  In the later half of the decade, a concentrated effort by
beekeepers to write their political representatives was successful in
reinstating the state inspection program.  The first year of inspection
reinstatement targeted mainly migratory beekeepers coming through the state.
Subsequent years (2001 was the third year of the reinstated inspection
program) saw more emphasis put on inspecting local, in-state hives.  This
past year saw a concerted effort to inspect hobbiest hives in a large number
of counties.

Preliminary reports show a marked increase of AFB since the inspection
program ceased in the early 90s.  Again I do not have the exact data but
guess that incidence jumped from 1% of inspected hives to 5% or greater this
past year.  Furthermore, ALL cases of AFB dscovered this year were assessed
for resistence to oxytetracycline, with many cases showing resistence.
Resistence was documented in many counties, as opposed to finding definite
pockets of resistence.  Speculation is that resistent strains might be found
state-wide if one looked close enough.

I do not know if all of the data has been tabulated and ready for release
for public view.  The inspection program is run by the NYS Department Of
Agricultire and Markets.

Aaron Morris - thinking when the cat's away the AFB will increase!