> Could the Enrofloxacin get in the honey by the practice of using cow urine to rid bees of microbial diseases?

This question vexed me. Why are beekeepers using this substance? Perhaps this indicates the reason:

> Chemotherapy has been explored in some depth for the control of nosema disease. Two materials, Nosemack, an effective mercury salt, and Fumidil B (fumagillin), were explored extensively. Only fumagillin has given consistently good results against nosema. In 1953, extensive tests, which used 2,340 package colonies owned by beekeepers in Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, were conducted, to evaluate fumagillin. These tests conclusively showed the effectiveness of fumagillin. Further cooperative work with Abbott Laboratories in North Chicago, Ill., resulted in the development of Fumidil B, now available to beekeepers. Recently, enteroseptolum-5-chloro-7-iodine-8-hydroxyquinoline was described by Smirnova and Peregud as more effective than fumagillin against nosema. (in Nosema disease: its control in honey bee colonies By Floyd E. Moeller, United States. Science and Education Administration, Wisconsin. Agricultural Experiment Station, Madison. 1978)

> Nosema disease was diagnosed in A. mellifera colonies in an apiary at Jorhat in 1994–95. Infected colonies were treated with Entakon-M (a hydroxyquinoline product) at different doses (22.75, 45.50 and 68.25 ppm) in sugar syrup; digestive tracts of bees were examined regularly. Initial infection levels in late July were high (89–92%), so colonies were treated at frequent intervals; by mid-August levels had fallen to 33–56% and by mid to late September colonies were free of Nosema apis spores. The highest dosage rate of Entakon-M was the most effective. A second trial using Entakon-M at 45.50 ppm produced 100% healthy bees after 10–11 weeks of treatment. P. Walker Department of Entomology, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat 785 013, India. (in Rahman, A. and Rahman, S. Diagnosis and control of nosema disease of Apis mellifera L. in Assam, India. Indian Bee Journal (1996) 58 (3) 122–124)

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