From: RSBrenchley@aol.com
Date: Sat, 6 Oct 2001 12:48:22 EDT
To: BiologicalBeekeeping@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: How do you tell diseases apart

Dee writes:

> This increase happened here also with the advent of varroa
> mites with whole apiaries and outfits rancid with it and crashing in later
> stages. Since you can only burn so much and then you stop, and seeing this
> has now happened in your area, what antibiotic is the Ministry treating
> with? Has any resistance surfaced yet to the antibiotics, as has happened
> over here i.e. Terramycin?

They treat with oxytetracyclin, which I believe is terramycin by any
other name. It can only be used 'officially', not by the ordinary beekeeper.
All my reading strongly suggests that EFB is a stress disease, caused when
the infected larva receives insufficient food for both itself and a mass of
ravenous bacteria, and starves. So what would be causing all this extra
stress to hives, if not varroa plus chemicals? The only other thing which has
changed is the method of treating EFB, and surely the establishment, whatever
its failings, isn't advocating a treatment method which is obviously
ineffective. How is EFB handled in the States? There are no reports of
resistant foulbrood yet, but it took over 40 years on your side of the
Atlantic, so we've time yet. Has anyone any experience of using shakedowns to
treat foulbrood?

Regards,

Robert Brenchley,
Birmingham, UK.

RSBrenchley@aol.com