"the number of spores transferred by a hive tool is probably near zero, but
> all it takes is one, time and a little serendipity. So why not clean them??"
>

Because it actually takes a LOT of serendipity for a single spore to infect
a colony.

Dr Mark Goodwin inoculated 5 nucs ea with either 50,000, 500,000, or
5,000,000 AFB spores fed in 100 mL of sugar syrup, and then monitored them
for 3 months for signs of disease.  The only colonies to show any larvae
infected with AFB were those inoculated with 5 million spores (4 out of the
5).  Those colonies inoculated with either 50k or 500k spores remained free
of disease.

That said, cleanliness is next to godliness, and I'll bet that those
beekeepers who take the time to scrub their hive tools a couple of hundred
times a day have much cleaner fingernails than do I.
-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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