Here, in the UK, AFB has been a notifiable disease for decades.  The Bee Inspector will kill the bees and burn and bury the hive contents. The woodwork is scorched with a blow torch. As a result, AFB is now rarely encountered here, although I was standing behind the photographer at a BKA site visit when he took the picture of AFB in the Encyclopaedia of Beekeeping.  There are one or two 'hot spots' within bee range of honey importers.


One local large scale beekeeper, many years ago now, illegally experimented by taking the comb from an infected hive, melting the wax and making foundation, closely monitoring the hive(s) in which it was placed.  They didn't get AFB and it was thought this was because the spores were coated with wax and thus weren't revived by being close to the bees.


Chris

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