From the Pages of the Apis Newsletter; August 1996:

"While at the Fifth Ibero Latin American Congress on Apiculture held May 
30 through June 2, 1996 in Mercedes, Uruguay, 
http://apisenterprises.com/papers_htm/Meetings/fifth.htm#5, I learned 
what can happen when AFB gets out of hand. Since it was first discovered 
in Argentina in 1989 //, the beekeepers in that country have gone 
through three stages in controlling AFB, according to Marcelo del Hoyo 
of the veterinary faculty, University of Buenos Aires. The first was 
denial, when the name American foulbrood was not uttered. When the 
disease was finally recognized in affected areas, beekeepers tried to 
combat the problem locally, but it was still ignored elsewhere in the 
country. The present stage is a mature condition where most good 
apiculturists have been exposed to the disease and have at least 
temporarily treated the problem.

"The fact that Argentinean beekeepers went through the above phases, 
however, appears to have led to something more serious than in other 
parts of the world. It is the only country to my knowledge where 
/Bacillus larvae/ (known now as /Paenibacillus larvae/) has become 
resistant to oxytetracycline//. This was confirmed in a study reported 
at the Mercedes congress by A. Alippi and M. Aguilar (National 
University of Mar de la Plata). They used biochemical techniques (PCR) 
to analyze bacterial DNA. Resistance was found in only 28 percent of 
samples, but this translated to 58 percent of tested locations in the 
country. These results support the theory, according to the authors, 
that beekeepers used antibiotics to excess as an alternative to burning 
colonies. This behavior, along with inadequate doses of a wide range of 
products of dubious origin and quality employed as a preventative, 
appear to have favored the appearance of resistant bacteria.

"Argentine researchers reported on another product, tylosin lactate 
(evidence of its effectiveness was first published by John Hitchcock and 
colleagues at the Laramie Bee Laboratory in the /Journal of Economic 
Entomology/. 63:1, pp. 204-207, February, 1970), which they say will 
control the disease as an alternative to Erythromycin and 
oxytetracycline. M. del Hoyo also listed a suite of controls now used by 
beekeepers, including burning colonies, using packages to move bees off 
contaminated hives, making splits into clean equipment, applying 
chemotherapy and various sanitation procedures (dipping in hot wax and 
lye solution and scorching supers). These must be used in conjunction 
with inspection at least every 90 days, he concluded, as one abandoned 
diseased colony can undermine a control program that has taken years to 
implement.

-- 
Dr. Malcolm T. Sanford
352-336-9744
http://apisenterprises.com/storey/


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