> I posted two URL's about this, but Aaron didn't publish them.
You don't say why, but I am sure he had a good reason. Perhaps they came up
404 or were deformed, or the message was otherwise unacceptable?
> http://home.euphonynet.be/archief_bijen/gezondheid/inhibitionAF.pdf
> http://home.euphonynet.be/archief_bijen/gezondheid/inhibitionAF2.pdf
Thank you for the URLS. I will quote the relevant part here to save others
from the need of downloading and skimming, and comment below.
--- begin excerpt ---
The antimicrobial activity of fatty acids and their derivatives, mainly
soaps, has previously been demonstrated and reviewed (see Kabara, 1978;
and references there-in). While linoleic acid is an important membrane
constituent of most ascomy-cete fungi (Weete, 1974, 1980), our isolation
of linoleic acid from A apis as an anti-microbial agent is an interesting
example of how one bee pathogen - the fungus that causes chalkbrood
disease - produces a ubiquitous compound that inhibits the growth of a
competing bacterial pathogen.
A related fatty acid, termed laetisaric acid (8-hydroxylinoleic acid), has
been isolated from a basidiomycete fungus that has been shown to be
fungicidal toward sever-al plant pathogenic fungi (Bowers et al,
1986). Currently in the United States, onlyoxytetracycline is approved
by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the control of both
foulbrood diseases of honey bee (Shimanuki, 1990). The activity of
linoleic acid against foulbrood bacteria may form the basis of a new,
effective and inexpensive control.
MF Feldlaufer DA Knox WR Lusby H Shimanuki
--- end excerpt ---
The research is interesting in that the aim is to find a substance to use as
a treatment for AFB. For those who might think that this somehow proves
something about the balance of microorganisms in hives, it does nothing of
the kind.
It is widely known that various micro-organisms are constantly generating a
variety of chemicals (oh! oh!) that have negative effects on competing
organisms. Actually one way new antibiotics are discovered is by taking a
shovelful of dirt and investigating what the various 'bugs' in the sample
are doing to one another, and what chemicals they are producing.
Occasionally one of those chemicals proves to be useful in that it is
minimally toxic to an animal and maximally toxic to a pathogen. Then we
have oxytet or Fumigillan. Linoleic acid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linoleic_acid is not a particularly strong
agent AFAK, nor is it likely to be highly targeted.
I realise that some might like to read things into this straightforward
piece of work, but all it really says is that there is a potential to use
linoleic acid for AFB control. It says nothing about the allegedly perfect
and mystical natural state of the many organisms, both beneficial and
pathological, inside any given beehive.
I suppose one could extrapolate the work to deduce that it may be possible
that a particular larva should not be expected to succumb to both AFB and
chalkbrood.
Maybe I should know, but who is WR Lusby? http://tinyurl.com/5j6o89
allen
http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/
---
Wise men profit more from fools than fools from wise men; for the wise men
shun the mistakes of fools, but fools do not imitate the successes of the
wise.
Cato the Elder (234 BC - 149 BC), from Plutarch, Lives
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