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[clv101]

Empty jars can just go in the oven surely?

 

[victor meldrew]

Yes heat treated jars, new lids no probs!
Vm

 

[PBee]

On disinfecting wooden equipment for AFB ....

The number of viable spores recovered after the treatment, on the surface by swabbing, and in the deeper parts of the wood by scraping, was used to test the efficiency of the disinfection. Our results indicate that chemical disinfection is only complete when high concentrations (> 50%) of the disinfectant are used. Heat treatment in general was found to be very effective. The scorching of wood was not satisfactory as it only killed spores at the surface.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-2672.2001.01376.x/full

 

[MuswellMetro]

On disinfecting wooden equipment for AFB ....
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-2672.2001.01376.x/full

excellent link,

 

[pargyle]

excellent link,

Yes it is ... so jars in the oven at 170 degrees and new lids.

Wooden bits (God forbid that any of us have to face this) has to be a bonfire. There does not appear to be any practical way to kill all the spores in a hive within an apiary situation, as far as I can see.

Really ought to be mandatory.

 

[mbc]

Yes it is ... so jars in the oven at 170 degrees and new lids.

Wooden bits (God forbid that any of us have to face this) has to be a bonfire. There does not appear to be any practical way to kill all the spores in a hive within an apiary situation, as far as I can see.

Really ought to be mandatory.

Beekeepers are the worst culprits so they should go on the bonfire too !
I can think of a few dry old sticks who'd go up quite well.

 

[BeeJayBee]

On disinfecting wooden equipment for AFB ....
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-2672.2001.01376.x/full

Interesting, thanks.

I liked this part of the conclusion:

The use of synthetic hives and hive material would thus enable a more effective decontamination and should for that reason be recommended.

 

[pargyle]

Beekeepers are the worst culprits so they should go on the bonfire too !
I can think of a few dry old sticks who'd go up quite well.

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

It would be good to concentrate on finding a reliable alternative to burning, in case AFB becomes widespread.

Too easy just relying on the one method.

Dusty

 

[pargyle]

It would be good to concentrate on finding a reliable alternative to burning, in case AFB becomes widespread.

Too easy just relying on the one method.

Dusty

The article talks about heating the contaminated timber samples to 170 degrees - they boiled in paraffin wax - so that's an option but expensive intially and you would need a big vessel to put brood boxes/supers in. I wondered whether boiling them in a caustic soda solution would be an effective method ?

Let's all just hope that we never have to face AFB on an epidemic level.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Don't kno about AFB but the new edict from the NBU is that any EFB colonies are to be destroyed - due to this new 'virulent strain' from Switzerland!

 

[alanf]

On disinfecting wooden equipment for AFB ....
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-2672.2001.01376.x/full

Good link, and confirms what we know in the lab. The autoclave has long been the choice for sterilising glassware and growing media. Many labs have professional autoclaves for bulk but will also have a domestic pressure cooker for a few items; it's just as effective but cheaper and quicker for a small batch. Glass is not wood however, penetration of spores into wood and heat treatments to reach them are a different problem.

Or are they? Does a suspension of spores dried into a wooden component reflect the field situation where spores are concentrated in brood cells? AFB bacillae produce spores, but do they in all hive circumstances? Are spores penetrated into wood a realistic route of infection? All these and more are interesting questions that I don't recall any papers on. I do know that working with infectious bacteria in close to field conditions is always going to be restricted for obvious reasons.

What we do have is the existing treatment, burn frames and scorch boxes. AFB has not had an increased UK infection frequency since it was adopted, rather the infection rate has fallen. A rate increase may be hidden by beekeepers volunteering to burn the lot, or other factors but records exist for the hives scorched and if they caused a high reinfection rate it would be noticed by now. Consider that nobody checks for spores in wax destined for making foundation. It's not considered a problem. Superficially, then, surface treatments work. At least to the extent in hive boxes of reducing exposure to spores to a level where reinfection is unlikely.

 

[PBee]

A field study done on an island in Denmark found that bees introduced to decontaminated AFB boxes did not show clinical symptoms or have spores in their honey after one year. Those introduced into contaminated boxes did not show symptoms either but there were spores in the honey. They found only 80% reduction in spores by scorching, and a similar efficacy using scrubbing with hot soapy water, power washing and soaking with Virkon S. The success of the AFB eradication protocol may be, in some cases, as much to do with the removal of low tolerance genes as with reduction of spore load?

 

[mbc]

The success of the AFB eradication protocol may be, in some cases, as much to do with the removal of low tolerance genes as with reduction of spore load?

Spot on.
Most bees are hardy to AFB, otherwise we'd be overrun with it.
Its always been with the bees for as long as records exist, certainly the ancient Greeks and Romans wrote about bee maladies which were probably AFB.
When a colony dies out all the colonies within its range will "discover" it, and I presume all will have a nibble at any stores left over. If the dead colony had AFB then all the surrounding colonies will have had some exposure to the spores and yet we know it is only an unlucky few which will succumb to the disease.
The reasons for some going down with it and not others are a bit nebulous, but it could be due to a faulty proventriculous, bad luck with a particularly lively spore being fed to a susceptible larvae just at the wrong time, or perhaps more commonly just an overwhelming number of spores coming into a colony from robbers and the laws of probability dictating that some of the spores catch and infect brood and multiply enormously. Either way, the salient point is that the majority of colonies, perhaps equally exposed to the infective material, remain healthy, and only those with bad luck or susceptible genes succumb. Remove the colonies with bad luck/genes from the environment and the luck/genes of the remaining colonies improves.

 

[MuswellMetro]

I found this pdf while looking for bits and pieces for a BBKA module, it is on Lactobaccilus in the Bees stomach and the ability of the Lactobaccilus to prevent AFB

No i am not saying feed your Bees Yakault probiotic drink but it does make you wonder if a lack of variety in forage is a contributing factor on AFB susceptibility as the source of the lactobaccilus is like to be only from foraging