American foulbrood (AFB) is a serious and near-global disease of honey bees and was recently discovered in South Africa. The causative pathogen, Paenibacillus larvae, comprises various strains. It is currently unknown which of these are present in South Africa and what their distribution is. We address this issue by genotyping P. larvae isolates using repetitive element fingerprinting (rep-PCR) markers and microfabricated chip technology. A total of 71 brood, honey and wax samples were collected opportunistically in South Africa. Twenty-three samples tested positive for P. larvae (32.4%). Diagnostic rep-PCR fingerprinting using ERIC, BOX A1R and MBO REP1 primers found all P. larvae isolates in South Africa to correspond to the ERIC I genotype, with two subtypes revealed, Ab (13 samples) and ab (10 samples). These results are in agreement with the global prevalence of the ERIC I AFB genotype among P. larvae-infected honey bee colonies.

American foulbrood (AFB) 是一种严重的近乎全球性的蜜蜂疾病，最近在南非被发现。致病病原体类芽孢杆菌幼虫包括多种菌株。目前尚不清楚其中哪些存在于南非以及它们的分布情况。我们通过使用重复元素指纹识别 (rep-PCR) 标记和微制造芯片技术对P. larvae分离株进行基因分型来解决这个问题。在南非随机收集了 71 份育雏、蜂蜜和蜡样。23 个样品检测呈P. 幼虫阳性(32.4%)。使用 ERIC、BOX A1R 和 MBO REP1 引物进行诊断性 rep-PCR 指纹识别发现所有P. larvae南非的分离株对应于 ERIC I 基因型，揭示了两个亚型，Ab（13 个样本）和 ab（10 个样本）。这些结果与 ERIC I AFB 基因型在P. larvae感染的蜜蜂群落中的全球流行一致。