a Janet L. Wilson snip followed by > my comments
When I do visits to struggling beekeepers and find EFB it can be impossible to trace the infection source, but many of them have soldiered along with it year to year thinking it is the eponymously named snotbrood, something that comes from nowhere and has no remedy. I am not sure I believe in snotbrood myself, but I have seen starvation/chilling (common in small or new colonies that are low on workers and/or foragers) look like EFB, and terminal Varroasis can also resemble EFB.

>I must guess the antibiotic treatment talked about in this thread is essentially off label with no prescription by a vet? I seem some.EFB here in the early spring but normally it disappears when nutrition (ie a good honey flow) begins. I can easily get a vet prescription but avoid treatments when the problem remedies itself.

>Lastly I would suggest that it might be a good idea to carry one of those inexpensive AFB/EFB fits and make certain that the problem you are seeing is actually EFB or in the worst case AFB. Beyond Janet's suggestion above I have seen what looks like EFB in commercial hives used for pollination that at least one very large pollination owner informs me is contamination from fungicide. Beyond this and Janet's short list I am guessing the root cause could be long. I would add to the list that low population (hive population dynamics) and limited numbers of house bees to clean up the problem MIGHT be a part of the problem.

Gene in Central Texas.. 

 

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