The Chairman
AFB Operational Steering Committee
DAFF
Pretoria
28 August 2009

Attention:    Mr RM Ramasodi

REQUEST TO ARRANGE FOR EMERGENCY USAGE OF ANTIBIOTICS IN BEEHIVES FOR AFB

A request to use antibiotics to control the outbreak of AFB in South Africa has been forwarded to me by Mike Allsopp.  This emergency use request will clear the way for beekeepers to apply antibiotics to their infected bees for a limited time only and under stipulated conditions – i.e. i) Not when a super is on hive and ii) demanding a 16 week withdrawal period.

‘Terramycin application is to be restricted to two treatments per colony per annum. It is recommended that colonies are treated during winter or autumn, and when there are no honey supers present on the colonies. No bee products may be harvested from colonies for 16 weeks after antibiotic treatment’. ( M. Allsopp)

It would be irresponsible for the industry not to support such a request so that if the situation was to become serious enough to require the use of antibiotics have them available for beekeepers to use.  

SABIO, however, has never encouraged the use of antibiotics since the discovery of AFB in South Africa. We have encouraged the application of hygienic management techniques and the destruction of badly infected colonies. The question is how bad must the clinical symptoms of AFB be before resorting to the application of OTC? I have phoned many beekeepers in the Weston Cape as well as the Chairmen of SCBIA and WCBA. There has been no indication from them that the situation is serious enough to advocate the use of antibiotics as a control measure. In addition honey packers have expressed serious misgivings regarding the possible contamination of honey with antibiotic material. In spite of inadequate MRL’s specified for honey, and the assurance that OTC does not have a sustained life in honey, the retailer will need to be convinced that there is no danger of contamination.  At present the most serious loss figure from AFB seems to be 30% and this can be carried by most beekeepers. There seems to be no danger that hives will not be available for pollination and WCBA reports that there are surplus hives available from their members for this purpose.

I also contacted Riaan Van Zyl of the inspectorate who reports that there has not been a serious increase of AFB cases reported to him.  Hives he had inspected recently all showed a healthy brood laying pattern. I hope that some record of reported cases is being kept so that if there is a serious deterioration in our bees some early warning can be given regarding the outbreak.  The results of the delimiting survey are still not known and it is critical that full results are sent to the industry for their enlightenment.

If any application of OTC is to be made then I request that this be a pilot study strictly managed by researchers and that results be shared with the industry as a whole.

Yours sincerely

John Moodie 

CHAIRMAN:  JD MOODIE
 ( 083 270 4035 )