Hi All
 
Recently I plated swabs from the inside of a hive testing for certain
organisms that I am interested in and did not find them.
 
I did however find that there are a reasonable number of organisms
living in different hives, including E.coli on broodsurfaces(I gather
maybe from human contactinfecting them), and certain filamentous
yeasts. (Candida's)
 
The level of contamination would be about the same I would estimate
as a hand which has been  recently  washed with a non-disinfectant
soap.
 
I will do this again and post the results on the list. Last time I
only recorded that the organisms I was looking for were not present.
 
Keep well
 
Garth
 
PS on the topic of scorching frames to kill spores, many sporesof
micro organisms are extremely stable due to inclusion of special
substances into their structure which protect agains both heat and
irradiation by certain high energy wavelengths and particles. Without
knowledge of theseit  would be very difficulttoestimate
whatpercentage of sporeswouldbe inactivated at a certain temperature.
---
Garth Cambray       Camdini Apiaries
15 Park Road        Apis melifera capensis
Grahamstown         800mm annual precipitation
6139
Eastern Cape
South Africa               Phone 27-0461-311663
 
On holiday for a few months     Rhodes University
Which means: working with bees 15 hours a day!
Interests: Fliis and bees
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this post in no way
reflect those of Rhodes University.