Jean-Pierre Several people have developed or demonstrated methods to assess AFB by means other than hive symptoms. Mark Goodwin and Cliff van Eaton in New Zealand have a method of detection using bacterial cultures, that can use non-symptomatic adult bees or brood, honey or pollen as a sample source. The basic method is preparation of an extract from the sample, "pasteurization" to kill vegetative bacteria, plating onto a nutrient plate, incubation for 3 days, then observation and counting of the resulting B.larvae colonies. Adult bee samples give a range of B.larvae colony counts up to about 100 per plate, before hive symptoms are common. This provides a "grey zone" of AFB "infected" hives, that might be segregated and receive special surveillance and management to prevent "breakdown" and spread to other hives. In a management system that already has a low exposure to AFB, this method could offer a sensitive means of detecting the "smoke before the flame". It would be interesting to try this with a management system based on antibiotic suppression. Would there be a high level of spores everywhere, just waiting for a hole in the antibiotic armour? Kerry Clark, Apiculture Specialist B.C. Ministry of Agriculture 1201 103 Ave Dawson Creek B.C. V1G 4J2 CANADA Tel (604) 784-2225 fax (604) 784-2299 INTERNET [log in to unmask]