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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
William Morong <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 2 Dec 1999 12:03:00 -0500
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Anne wrote "I have heard of the highly antibacterial properties of several
types of honey, not to mention propolis itself-".

According to many bee books, (ABC-XYZ, etc.) honey of all types, if its
moisture content is appropriately low, is antibacterial.  It is not that
honey is magically toxic to bacteria, but merely that being dry and
hydrophilic it causes high osmotic pressure across the bacteria's cell walls
that dries out and withers the pathogens, if they be in their active form.
This property of honey itself is part of why it keeps, and why it is
sometimes used to kill pathogens in wounds.  Unfortunately, when some
pathogens are thus challenged, they form very durable spores which remain
viable in honey for a long time.  Botulism is from such a spore-forming
pathogen, and foulbrood is from another.  Thus it seems unlikely that any
type of honey is part of bees' chemical defense against disease, but rather
that inherent behavior involving disposal of diseased brood material is the
means by which "hygienic" bees defend themselves.

Bill Morong

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