Is contact colony treatment with antibiotics an effective control for European foulbrood?

The National Bee Unit (NBU), Central Science Laboratory, York, UK, has co-o rdinated the bee health programme on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food for England since 1994 and the National Assembly for Wa les (formerly Welsh Office Agriculture Department) for Wales since 1995. Th is programme includes inspecting honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies for si gns of foulbrood, laboratory confirmation of diagnosis, destroying confirme d cases of American foulbrood, treatment with oxytetracycline or destroying colonies confirmed to have European foulbrood. In addition, the programme includes a significant element of training for beekeepers in identifying an d preventing disease*. The co-ordination of the bee health programme is man aged through a database, Beebase, which contains information for over 25 00 0 beekeepers and holds records from 1994 of all inspections, treatments and destructions. In addition the NBU holds paper records from 1967-1979 and 1 985-1993.