Hi,
Responding to Tim's statement that removal of scale would not cure AFB.

This is the reason why I couched my question carefully saying
"..... in controlling AFB".

Jim then comments on the creation of "AFB hand grenades":

With intrepidation I start to debate with JF!!

It must be taken that I am trying to get informed about the status of AFB scale, therefore throw in
this for clarification.

Hand grenades I understand are harmless until the pin in pulled -  may this be equated to the scale?
- are they harmless, or have reduced infective qualities until ruptured?

To what extent does coming into casual contact with a scale (one that does not have a degraded
surface) allow for the transfer of spores in a quantity resulting in clinical AFB to appear?

If an intact scale has limited (relative) potential to infect, then an increase in ease of removal
could potentially reduce the reservoir of spores that are present in the hive.

Potential problem: Scale once released, I presume would then be dumped in the environs of the hive
entrance - allowing degradation of the "hand grenade" to occur. This area then becoming a proverbial
"mine field".

Getting back to the point (and limiting our problems for the moment!). If scale could be removed,
resulting in a reduced quantity of spores that were now available to be picked up by adult bees -
resulting infection then possibly could be controlled by antibiotic applications - as activated
spores have their reproductive facilities compromised.
Removing the spores removes the reservoir of inert spores - could this not break the cycle of
infection?

I am not so foolish to imagine that complete removal of scale would occur, that is if any method of
scale removal was ever found and applied.

What come to mind is the work being done in Canada, relating to AFB spore counts in honey and and
ability to indicate infection rates in colonies from such data.

Allen Dick (please correct if wrong!) appears to suggest that AFB infection rates are lowered over
time if the scale is removed and antibiotic use limits clinical symptoms resulting from free spores
"germinating".
Gradually, the number of free spores reduces as they are not complemented by others coming from
reserve scale.

The threat from AFB, being a chronic affliction in bee colonies, most probably will never be removed
- but any technique when applied in an appropriate manner may reduce our losses.


Peter (with too much time on his hands!!)

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