S7^^^"t^'- ■ 



ILLIlsOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



159 



tanks, and wax extractors, which have 

 been used in infected apiaries, are 

 also a fruitful source of infection. 

 Therefore, if you are to keep the dis- 

 ease-producing bacteria out of your 

 apiary, and thereby keep out disease, 

 you must not feed honey unless you 

 are positive that it did not come from 

 an infected apiary or that it has been 

 thoroughly boiled. Neither must you 

 use old combs unless you are positive 

 that they have not been in an infected 

 apiary. Use no used bee supplies 

 from an infected apiary unless they 

 are thoroughly disinfected. 



These thing's being true of the in- 

 fectious disease, American foul brood, 

 of which we know the cause, until the 

 cause of any other infectious disease 

 can be determined, we can do no 

 better than to suggest the use of the 

 same principles in the treatment of 

 such a disease, as must be used in the 

 successful treatment of American foul 

 brood. 



Curative Treatment. — In the cura- 

 tive treatment, considering the colony 

 as a unit, use is made of two widely 

 different principles — the removal of 

 the disease-producing material, thereby 

 removing the germs, and the use of 

 drugs. 



In separating the disease-producing 

 germs from the colony, all the combs 

 are removed which removes the prin- 

 cipal sources from which the brood is 

 infected — foul brood larvae and honey. 

 It is always safer to allow the bees 

 to go into a new hive or a hive which 

 has been thoroughly disinfected. The 

 greatest care should be exercised in 

 protecting all infectious material 

 which has been removed, that it may 

 not be robbed by the bees. 



The principle involved in the treat- 

 ment by drugs is that of an ajntiseptic. 

 The theory is that a small amount of 

 some drug like beta napthol, salicylic 

 acid, carbolic acid, eucalyptus, and for- 

 mic acid, etc., is sufficient, when taken 

 with the larval food, to prevent the 

 growth of the pathogenic bacteria. 



Having thus in a general way con- 

 sidered the subject of the etiology of 

 disease and the treatment in accord- 

 ance with such knowledge, let us con- 

 sider the different diseases separately. 



American Foul Brood. 



That Bacillus larvae is the cause of 

 American foul brood has been demon- 

 strated conclusively. It is a species 



of bacteria which, when it is intro- 

 duced into the healthy larvae, multi- 

 plies rapidly and causes the death of 

 a large amount of the brood. When 

 the larvae die, the body decomposes 

 and the remains dry down to a tongue- 

 like scale on the lower side wall of 

 the cell. In this scale are millions of 

 spores which are able to produce dis- 

 ease in other larvae should they be 

 fed to them. 



Just how the bacteria are carried 

 from a dead larvae to a helathy one 

 we do not know. It is not uncommon, 

 in examining the brood, to find only a 

 portion of a larvae in a cell, the bees 

 having removed a part of it. On 

 breaking the body wall* of a larvae in 

 examining for foul brood, bees readily 

 suck up the contents which flow out. 

 This is true when the larvae which is 

 punctured is healthy or sick with dis- 

 ease or which has been dead a few 

 days. The larvae at these stages of 

 the disease contain a very large num- 

 ber of the disease-producing bacteria. 

 These observations would indicate 

 that in this way, in part at least, the 

 infectious material might be carried 

 to healthy larvae. Actual contact of 

 the appendages of the bee with the 

 foul broody material, and the subse- 

 quent contact of the same appendages 

 with the food of the larvae may be a 

 method by which the disease-produc- 

 ing bacteria are spread. "We do know 

 that in foul brood it is possible to ob- 

 tain Bacillus larvae from the honey, 

 and we do know that when bees are 

 fed the spores of Bacillus larvae in 

 honey, American foul brood will 

 appear in the apiary. 



The spores of this bacillus are very 

 resistant to heat and other disinfec- 

 tants. They resist the boiling tem- 

 perature of water for fifteen minutes. 

 In five per cent carbolic acid they 

 were not killed in two months' time. 

 This was demonstrated by obtaining 

 growth in cultures after the spores 

 had remained in this disinfectant for 

 that length of time. Likewise we 

 have -demonstrated that the spores of 

 Bacillus larvae when taken from the 

 scales of American foul brood, resist 

 the action of mercuric chloride (cor- 

 rosive sublimate) 1:1000 aqueous solu- 

 tion for two months. Having these 

 facts before us, we can better judge 

 the methods of the treatment. 



In treating this disease, we must 

 bear in mind the preventive and cura- 

 tive measures. In preventive treat- 



