Etiology of European Foul-brood of Bees

Abstract

SINCE Cheshire and Cheyne investigated the cause of foul-brood of bees in England and attributed the etiology of the disease to B. alvei, which is almost invariably found in large numbers in infected larvæ, much Work has been done to corroborate their results. In no case, however, has an isolated culture of B. alvei been known to produce the disease. On the other hand, G. F. White and others have refuted the claim of Cheshire and Cheyne and ascribed infection in this disease to B. pluton. Owing to their inability to cultivate and isolate the organism, however, their claim has remained hypothetical; for it could not be determined whether this organism was itself merely a secondary invader—as they said was B. alvei—or whether the infection was mixed, or whether, indeed, these organisms played any pathological rôle in the disease.