Dave wrote:

>I do not have "evidence" or data...My information is anecdotal...

Well, I guess I will hold off on torching several hundred hives of mostly
new equipment on the basis on anecdotal evidence.  But the silence on this
list regarding sterilization is deafening.

>I have no room for under performance...I want healthy, vigorous bees. A
>blanket destruction policy for all Foulbrood diseases would eventually
>eliminate them.

You said you DO have a blanket destruction policy is UK for AFB.  Has it
eliminated it? How long have you had it?  Can you point to some place in the
world where it has been eliminated (most places I gather have blanket
destruction policies for AFB).

If EFB is an *endemic* disease, then elimination is hardly an option.

>I admit, that to some, the cost would be high (particularly in USA).

Yes, the bank might not take kindly to me torching my operation and taking a
job driving a potato truck.

>It is only the treatment that allows the long term survival of EFB

So one would expect it to have been eliminated in all the places that don't
treat.

>I have no room for under performance...I want healthy, vigorous bees.

We have two very different factors here, the animal and the housing.  If the
animal is sick then you may treat it, or you may decide to destroy it.  If
the housing is contaminated then you may sterilize it or you may decide to
destroy it.  In the case of AFB the methods of sterilization are known, as
well as the length of time that the spores can remain infective and there is
also the persistence of the scales to consider. But no one seems to be able
to post anything on those factors regarding EFB (with the exception of
Adony's post on EFB and radiation, but radiation is not an option on this
island).

All the infected honey is now WITH the healthy, vigorous bees.  They robbed
it.  I expect almost all colonies to be dealing with a certain level of
bacterial contamination when brood rearing resumes.  I presume that there is
a certain level that bees can tolerate with no antibiotics, and a certain
level that they can tolerate with antibiotics.  And I presume that those
levels are also affected by environmental/nutritional conditions and by bee
genetics.

A bacteria that does not form spores can only remain infective in dry
equipment for a certain length of time.  I find it hard to believe that with
an old disease someone has not studied this.  I also know that someone on
this list has some experience with repopulating EFB deadouts after a certain
length of time and perhaps after some treatment of frames (mine are mostly
plastic foundation, and I will likely burn the wax ones).  I would be very
grateful if they would share some knowledge other than anecdotal.

Regards,
Stan