Nle colonies received ABPC in syrup showed high drug residue levels in honey and it lasted over 14 days beyond the detection limit of residual analysis. In the hives given ABPC in paste, relatively low honey residues were found, however, the distributions of the drug in young larvae and jelly which was the food of the larvae were very low. ABPC was considered to be a promising drug for the control of American foulbrood, an important bacterial disease of honeybee larvae, because of its high antibacterial activity to the pathogen, Paenibacillus larvae, and instability of residue in honey as human food. The low distribution in young larvae, the target of the disease, threw a doubt on the efficacy of ABPC for American foulbrood control. At present, this information is severely lacking and only enables a brief outline of trends to be made.
Current data are inadequate to prevent the spread of diseases from one country to another.
To improve this situation, it is important that exporting countries establish epidemiological and health surveillance practices based on harmonised procedures and diagnostic tests. In addition,the products of apiculture should be given a permanent, specific nomenclature, drawn up by the World Trade Organisation. The biological properties and susceptibility to antimicrobial agents of Bacillus larvae were examined. Our B.larvae isolates had almost the same biological properties as the type strain. The isolates were more susceptible to penicillins, macrolides and lincomycin, a lincosamide, than other antimicrobials.