From: Peter L Borst <[log in to unmask]>
>Of course, this is more likely tied to beekeeper skill level than some other factor.

I don't think it would be assuming too much to say that _some_ of the commercial beekeepers in NYS use antibiotics prophylactically.  Some subset of those colonies have suppressed AFB (an infection that would show clinical symptoms _if_ prophylactic treatments were to be discontinued).  I'm not sure that this reflects "skill".

The data you provided is certainly useful when tracking disease spread and risk analysis (if all such suppressed infections are kept suppressed...and assuming that suppressed infections are not contagious).  I don't think this data really tells us that larger apiaries harbor less AFB unless we have some way to identify suppressed infections.

Somewhere (I can't recall at the moment), I remember seeing some data that in feral colonies, AFB rates were highest in close proximity to commercial apiaries (perhaps a study from California)?  I'll try to put my fingers on it.

deknow

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