From: cslade777@aol.com
Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2001 17:15:42 EDT
To: BiologicalBeekeeping@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: How do you tell diseases apart

In a message dated 05/10/01 19:37:27 GMT Daylight Time,
deelusbybeekeeper@excelonline.com writes:

<< all new beekeepers on this discussion group and might want the same information on AFB, EFB, PMS, Chaulk, Sacbrood, etc. Any input any older beekeepers with experience want to give to the newer ones? >>

The important thing to emphasise to new beekeepers is that at least twice a
year they should go through a hive with the sole objective of looking for
disease. This means shaking bees off the combs and having a good look at the brood, both open and sealed. The matchstick and ropiness test is classic and reliable for AFB, as is the scale. There is no reliable test for EFB outside a laboratory so the only safe assumption is that anything that LOOKS like EFB IS until lab analysis proves otherwise. You will have to ask my wife about PMS. Chalk brood can sometimes be mistaken for mouldy pollen or vice versa, but the pollen takes the shape of the cell whereas the CB doesn't and so can be shaken loose. There is a lot more CB about than there was and it is now of economic importance.

In the UK where burning is compulsory for AFB there were only 100 or so cases in the whole country last year.. EFB used to be treated the same way but not now and light infestations can be treated with antibiotic by the Ministry. The incidence is now rising and was over 1000 cases last year.

Chris