Hello Allen & all,

Allen Dick wrote:

 1.) The exact mechanism by which drugs purportedly mask an INCREASE
(or even
 steady state) of AFB spore levels in a hive, since that is what they
seem to
 insist.  It seems obvious to me that if the disease is prevented from
expressing
 itself, then the levels of viable spores in a hive must decrease over
time.  In
 the fullness of time, they must reach a point where the chance of
outbreak is
 close to zero -- even if the drugs were not provided regularly.

I ran a test in 1985 and left 12 hives untreated for a year to see if
AFB would raise its ugly head.  These hives i bought from the wife of a
beekeeper which had passed away (1979).  She said he had fought quite a
battle with AFB so she wanted to see the hives go to a beekeeper
familiar with AFB.  2/3 of the boxes showed signs of scorching with fire
and she claimed much of the comb to be 25-30 years old.  I did a careful
examination of the colonies before buying and found no active AFB but
the hives had been treated with TM.  The comb was indeed old but had
very little drone comb.  I did cull some but not a huge amount.  I
medicated the hives for 6 years with TM.  In 1985 i decided to
discontinue treatments for a year at a remote location to see if the
time had come to stop treatments and only cull AFB.  On careful
examination the next spring(1986) I found no active AFB.  I moved the
hives into a area of other colonies(1986) so i resumed regular
treatments with TM. I can't say why i started treating again. Maybe
because the TM treatments are easy and fairly inexpensive.
I would bet there were spores in those colonies so why did they not
become active?   Has any tests ever been run to see how long it takes
for spores to become active?   We have got a bee supply dealer in our
area which maintains it takes 2,000 degree temp to kill AFB spores.  The
maker of the *Better Way Wax Melter* claims 350 degrees  will do the
job.  Which is right?

 2.) What happens if a non-treated hive is exposed to AFB from nearby
operations or discarded honey?    What does it matter?  In such a case,
 burning is a continuous and pointless task, but a little medication
can eliminate the problem -- and its spread -- for as long as the drug
is properly applied.

 I always chuckle at the new beekeeper which comes home from the bee
supply house with new equipment so he won't have to worry about AFB.
Main reason he bought new in the first place (plenty of hives and used
equipment for sale since there are half as many beekeepers now as a
decade ago in the U.S.).  The last item placed in his sack at the supply
house is--yep! Terramycin!
I have done many talks on bee disease over the years.  The slides i use
came from Dr. Larry Conner.  My favorite is a slide of sealed brood.
Excellent pattern with *one* cell of AFB. Researchers and longtime
beekeepers are familiar with the slide(which is still available from
Wicwas Press). When you see the slide you quickly realize how hard AFB
is to detect in a commercial operation and why beekeepers choose to
medicate instead of endless searching. I believe it would be easier to
find the queen in a hive than one cell of AFB.

Bob Harrison