https://www.freemason.com/the-beehive/
Bees are industrious, but their social organization has left them vulnerable to parasites that exploit the vulnerabilities of social insects to contagious self replicating infections.
American foulbrood
American foulbrood (AFB) is a fatal bacterial disease of honey bee brood caused by the spore forming bacterium Paenibacillus larvae. It is not a stress related disease and can infect the strongest to the weakest colony in an apiary. Infected brood usually die at the pre-pupal or pupal stage. Heavy infections can affect most of the brood, severely weakening the colony and eventually killing it. The disease is not able to be cured, meaning that destruction of infected colonies and hives or irradiation of infected material is the only way to manage AFB.
Although AFB is not highly contagious, bacterial spores can easily be spread between hives and apiaries through beekeeping practices such as through the exchange of equipment and movement of infected combs. Adult bees are not affected by AFB but can spread spores within and between infected and clean hives through robbing and drifting.
AFB spores can remain viable for over 50 years and are very resistant to freezing and high temperatures. Therefore, the only way to manage the disease is to stop infections from occurring through adopting beekeeping best management practices, and if an AFB outbreak does occur, quickly dealing with it before additional colonies become infected.
https://beeaware.org.au/archive-pest/american-foulbrood/#