SUSCEPTIBILITY OF BACILLUS LARVAE TO TERRAMYCIN

Oxytetracycline HCl is the only antibiotic approved by the Food and Dr ug administration for the prevention and control of both American and European foulbrood diseases of honey bees. Without this one antibiotic , beekeepers would suffer losses in the millions of dollars. Even toda y, in some states, when American foulbrood disease is found, hives and bees are destroyed by burning. Some states also quarantine hives of b ees found with American foulbrood disease and thus prevent the movemen t of honey bee colonies for pollination and honey production. For thes e reasons, it is imperative that the efficacy of oxytetracycline be ev aluated periodically as this antibiotic has now been in use for almost 40 years. Over 100 American foulbrood samples collected in 1993 were compared for their relative sensitivity to samples of the disease coll ected prior to the use of oxytetracycline. No difference in sensitivit y was noted between the pre- and post- oxytetracycline samples.