M.  P. Dillon wrote:

> ...  no infection as such in throat, nose or ear but a lot of irritation
>in the Eustachian tube connecting throat and middle ear.
>Got to thinking - is it possible that breathing in dust particles from
>scrapped propolis is causing fore mentioned?

        Propolis is IMHO the real 'sleeper' of bee products.  Us chemists
have fought shy of it for some  reasons e.g. its composition will vary
considerably depending what the gum-foragers were collecting from.  But I
can report that the mighty Molan lab at Waikato is moving into this
chemistry.
        Propolis is a good broad-spectrum antiseptic.  But too much of it,
as dust, on certain human membranes might well irritate them.  Infection
might or might not then supervene.
        If I may proffer a suggestion to your medico, swabs for culturing
would seem essential to a thorough assessment of any such irritation.  As
your facts stand, there's no evidence of infection.  I wouldn't know
whether swabs can be safely obtained from the Eustachian tubes.

        Also: of course it is not only propolis that gets mobilised into
the air during such a big scraping campaign.


R