In most cases, for statistical analysis to be relevant, untreated hives must actually be allowed to die, if necessary, to conclusively show that a treatment is effective within the treated population. Beekeepers have been warned time and again that looking for serendipitous treatments that are poorly researched is a risky procedure for the beekeeper, the bees, and the honey crop. Even if recommended and approved treatments seem to be increasingly ineffective, a beekeeper would be wise to stick with tested and documented control procedures. The disease called American Foulbrood, or AFB, is caused by the bacterium Bacillus larvae . AFB has plagued both bees and beekeepers from the earliest days of U.S. beekeeping.
Bacillus larvae is a spore-forming bacterium.
Spores are extremely hardly and can survive in dormancy for thirty-five years or more. Spores are easily transported by either infested bees or infected equipment. Beekeepers moving contaminated equipment are, by far, the greatest source of AFB spread. Symptoms Visual signs of AFB begin to show up in the hive after young, susceptible larvae eat the spores that have been mixed in the brood food fed by nurse bees. If left untreated, infection spreads rapidly until the colony population is so weakened it dies during cold months by the ravages of the wax moth, of just by sheer lack of population, since all larvae die.