AAmerican foulbrood (AFB), a highly infectious bee disease is the most widespread and destructive of the bee brood diseases. It is essential to adopt beekeeping best management practices in order to stop infections from occuring. Here are some best practices meant to help with AFB.
You should check brood combs at least twice a year (spring and autumn) for premature signs of AFB.
Brood combs should be replaced every 3-4 years, to prevent the old brood combs to become source of the bacterium.
Introduce in your practices cleaning tools between hives and be careful when moving hive material in order to reduce the spread of AFB.
In case some hives are infected with AFB, always cleanse your beekeeping equipment before inspecting a new apiary.
Unfortunately, once you detect AFB in a colony, your first option is to kill and irradiate all box parts that will get the AFB pores destroyed. Another option is to bury and burn all the hive components in a deep hole.
The most important thing a beekeeper can do, is to learn to recognize this disease in its early stages and take measures to control its spread, educating others in the process, to keep this disease under control.