Hello Kent & All,
Kent said:
Well, DWV might not be a reliable indicator but the hundreds of varroa on my
> bottom board sure are :)  I guess since I don't really remember seeing DWV 
> prior to varroa I usually associate it with the nasty little pests.   In 
> all of my occurrences when I see DWV I have always had a heavier than 
> usual mite fall.

For those of us which have been on the varroa front lines for years its hard 
to not rely on what you are seeing in your hives rather than some new 
revelation a researcher has came up with.

We were told by Dr. Shiminuki back in the late 80's that DWV & high varroa 
loads go hand in hand.
Sure there are exceptions as in most things but I agree with Kent that virus 
issues seem to go along with high varroa counts. Not only DVW .

A few years ago i reported on BEE-L beekeepers were seeing virus issues when 
varroa loads were not high enough (as reported at U. of Georgia) needing 
treatment or in other words  below what U. of G. considered threshold to 
treat.

However we found when varroa control was improved the virus issues went away 
exactly like Dr. Shiminuki ( ret. head of Beltsville bee lab) said they 
would.

Very little new has been learned since those days about varroa control but 
lots of spin has been put on what we know. Kent makes a excellent point 
which is we never had any serious problems with virus before varroa. One 
reason the work of Bailey was never considered a big issue *until* varroa 
crossed from cerana to mellifera.

One reason I am curious when in Canada they say KBV killed all those hives 
and not varroa. I am not saying its not so only that the kill does not fit 
what Dr. Shiminuki told us about parasitic mite syndrome ( virus associated 
with a hive infested with varroa).

bob

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