Steve Moye gives some very useful information about the difficulties in
killing AFB spores and I for one will be keeping his posting as a reference.

Some points to remember about bleach and paraffin wax.

Bleach is very effective on some equipment, but please remember that bleach
will only kill AFB where it can be in direct contact for 20 minutes and at
the right concentration (you've already read the research from Ruakura about
0.5% sodium hypochlorite in water). To get adequate contact with spores in
woodware, you need to remove all propolis, wax, honey or anything else for
that matter. I don't know of anyone in New Zealand who soaks frames in
bleach and you certainly wouldn't do this with comb in them.  We burn our
frames.

Paraffin wax is very effective at killing AFB spores provided you immerse
the woodware for 10 minutes at 160 degrees Celsius (325 degrees Fahrenheit).
Both the time and the temperature are critical and this means you need some
way of measuring the temperature.

When we come across AFB in a hive we are advised to:
"1. Scrape excess propolis and wax off the wooden parts of the smoker
bellows with a hive tool.
2. Scrub the outside of gloves with soapy water.  The soap will not destroy
spores on gloves , but it will help to remove materials such as wax,
propolis and honey that might contain significant concentrations of spores.
3. Scrub the bellows and base of the smoker with the same soapy water.
4. Scrape all propolis off the hive tool.
5. Scorch the hive tool by putting it into the smoker and pumping on the
bellows to produce a flame." ("Elimination of AFB Without the Use of Drugs"
by Mark Goodwin and Cliff van Eaton)

Hope this helps.

Simon and Sarah Peacey