Paul & Sandra Roberts wrote
> I am seeking some definitive infomation regarding the sterilization of hive
> equipment after a foul brood infection. There has been a long held view
> that heating the equipment will result in the death of the Bacillus spores.
> What I am seeking is some research which supports this which will enable
> our amatuer beekeeping club to put argument before the Queensland DPI that
> this treatment is an effective solution to this problem.
 
Maybe I am way off base, and would appreciate being set straight, but I
had AFB when I first started beekeeping and my first act with my bees
was to destroy the lot and burn all the frames. I did use the "chimney
fire" technique to scorch the hive and super bodies. Plus I used a
butane flame to get all the other parts not touched by the flame. I used
the hive bodies for about five years and no trace of AFB, but it still
bothered me that only a few spores of AFB are necessary to reinfect the
hive, so this year I torched the last of my old hive bodies.
Here in Maine, an ethylene oxide chamber was going to be used to clense
AFB infected hives, but the EPA is holding things up, and we may lose
it.
But what bothers me, and I read it often as a "treatment" for AFB is to
douse them with Terramycin and call it a day. I consider that a method
of postponing the inevitable. The spores are still there. It is like
treating your kids with massive doses of antibiotics to treat bacterial
infections caused by bad water and never clean up the water.
I realize that the expense in destroying equipment is high, but I have
seen beekeepers in our area try to use Terramycin to clean up hives and,
when they lose the hive to other factors (mites), the hive is robbed out
by another beekeepers bees. And the AFB which was supposedly gone, ended
up in the other beekeepers hives and he had to destroy them. And it
happened two years in a row! So one bekeeper saved some money and the
other lost a lot.
I have read that AFB spores are still alive after 80+ years in
Beltsville. If so, it seems to me that it is irresponsible to do
anything other than burn until we have something to kill the spores
(Like ETO and irradiation) and not just treat the condition. I know if
our kids were involved, we would clean up the water and not keep feeding
them antibiotics.
(This is not a criticism of Paul & Sandra Robert's post, because they
are trying to kill the spores, which I agree with. My concern is as
stated- using terramycin to "cure" AFB.)
Bill Truesdell
Bath, ME