STUDIES ON AMERICAN FOUL BROOD OF BEES

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Abstract
SUMMARY: American foul brood is not produced by direct inoculation of eggs, or larvae from the time of hatching to that just subsequent to sealing, by placing from 0.001 to 0.005 ml. of aqueous suspensions of washed spores ofBacillus larvae, obtained from natural sources, in their cells.With this method of oral inoculation, larvae are rarely removed by the bees and mature normally when each receive from a few thousand to over 45 × 106spores ofB. larvae.Feeding individual larvae with unwashed spores ofB. larvae, or with portions of crushed larvae recently affected with American foul brood, does not cause the disease.Methods of inoculation, in which the adult bees are allowed access to relatively dilute suspensions ofB. larvaespores, form a satisfactory means of initiating American foul brood in colonies of bees.It is inferred that adult bees play an important part in carrying American foul brood in the colony, and the possible role of the adult bee as “insect vector” of American foul brood is considered.

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