Common household disinfectants are highly effective against the honey bee pathogen Melissococcus plutonius

The honey bee pathogen Melissococcus plutonius is ubiquitous in United States beekeeping operations, but little is known about persistence on beekeeping equipment or effective methods of decontamination. We investigated the survival of two common regional strains (atypical ST19 and typical ST39) and a typical control strain ATCC 35311 on beekeeping materials (steel and wood), and assessed the efficacy of 10% bleach and 70% ethanol using both viability qPCR and culture-based methods. Results showed strain-to-strain variation in surface adherence, with atypical ST19 showing higher levels of adherence than typical strains. Bleach (10%) was highly effective across all strains and materials, with complete elimination on steel and >98% reduction on wood. Ethanol (70%) showed variable effectiveness, with higher efficacy against atypical ST19 (85.5–99.9%) than typical strains and better performance on wood than steel. Scanning electron microscopy revealed strain-specific biofilm formation patterns, while vqPCR suggests the presence of significant extracellular DNA that may be involved in biofilm formation. These findings provide evidence-based guidance for apiary biosecurity and promising directions for future research.