**2. Conclusion**

The research carried out to study the *in vitro* and *in vivo* antimicrobial activity of essential oils against *P. larvae*, their toxicity in adult honey bees, as well as their mode of action (degradation of the cell wall, affecting cell morphology and damaging the cytoplasm membrane, coagulation of the cytoplasm, etc.) and anti-QS activity (inhibiting the production of proteases, inhibiting transportation and secretion of proteases, inhibiting the detection of quorum, etc.), has been thoroughly reviewed throughout this chapter. As far as honeybee larvae are the target of AFB disease, future research should focus on studying the effect of essential oils that are effective *in vitro* and non-toxic for adult honey bees on honeybee larvae. In addition, more studies are still needed on the distribution and effects of these natural products in hives, adult honey bees, larvae, honey, royal jelly and other bee products to understand the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics within the hive. As well, research on the effectiveness of these natural antimicrobials in field conditions is imperative. Moreover, further studies should be conducted on the sporicidal properties of these natural substances to destroy spores of *P. larvae* for the prevention of AFB disease. And last but not least, the development of adequate delivery modes of the essential oils within the hives for *in vivo* treatment and prevention of the disease is another important issue that requires further research, to put these natural strategies into practice under true hive conditions.

**39**

**Author details**

Argentina

La Plata, Argentina

Buenos Aires, Argentina

*Prevention and Control of American Foulbrood in South America with Essential Oils: Review*

Sandra Rosa Fuselli1,2, Pablo Gimenez Martinez1,3\*, Giselle Fuentes1

1 Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Centro de Investigación en Abejas Sociales (IIPROSAM) , Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Mar del Plata,

2 Comisión Investigaciones Científicas de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (CIC),

4 Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET),

3 Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica, Buenos Aires, Argentina

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

Rosa María Alonso-Salces1,4 and Matías Maggi1,4

\*Address all correspondence to: beedarian@gmail.com

provided the original work is properly cited.

,

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.85776*

*Prevention and Control of American Foulbrood in South America with Essential Oils: Review DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.85776*
