This from the Canadian Press in the last couple of days:

HL:Mba beekeepers fight to keep out spore that could destroy honey industry
   WINNIPEG (CP) -- Manitoba beekeepers are struggling to keep out an antibiotic-resistant spore that has the potential to destroy the province's honey industry.
   "It could literally wipe out entire operations," Phil Velduis, chairman of the Manitoba Beekeepers Association, said Friday.
   American Foulbrood Disease not only destroys developing honeybees, its spores remain in the brood comb and infect future generations.
   There is only one antibiotic in Canada approved to control the disease, but a strain resistant to that antibiotic has already plagued United States beekeepers for years.
   The strain has recently been discovered in bee colonies in British Columbia and Alberta where it has had a serious effect on commercial operations.
   "Because it happened in Alberta first, they were fairly deeply into it before they were able to figure it out," Velduis, a commercial beekeeper from Starbuck, Man., said in an interview during the association's annual convention in Winnipeg.
   "Whereas we, because it's on the radar screen, it's not going to surprise us."
   The association has been working to educate producers about the risk of buying used beekeeping equipment from other provinces, which could transport the disease into Manitoba, said Velduis.
   It is already illegal to import used equipment from the United States and a permit is required to bring it into Manitoba from other provinces.
  Manitoba has about 400 beekeepers from hobbyists to large-scale commercial operations.
   Velduis said the industry is well regulated in Manitoba and beekeeping operations are regularly inspected by the province.
   Still, beekeepers have to stay alert to the danger, said provincial apiarist Don Dixon.
   "This disease is found, generally, in this industry and there's a need for every beekeeper to be vigilant," said Dixon.
   "I think it's, potentially, a serious threat."
   The one mitigating factor, he said, is that the disease is easy to spot and can be eliminated if caught in time.
   The Prairie provinces produce 60 per cent of Canada's honey. Manitoba's $15-million honey industry accounts for about 20 per cent of that.
(Winnipeg Free Press)

   CP 1932ES 09-02-01