Less virulent varroa is not self-deception.  It is one of the valid 
mechanisms for overcoming varroa.  That is just part of the checks and 
balances of nature.  Over time extremely infective human diseases 
(usually) become less virulent because it is a good survival strategy. 
  If it is too virulent it is like the flu from America in the early 
1900's it moves through and then is gone.  Do a little research as to 
what syphilis used to be in the 1500's vs. what it is now.  It still is 
a very nasty, but it's not the fast disfiguring killer it used to be.  I 
have read articles in my pharmacy journals theorizing that the highly 
adaptive HIV virus has become less virulent than what initially was 
infecting people in the early 80's.  The more virulent strains died out 
because they quickly disabled and killed the vector.  The strains that 
were less virulent were passed on and evolution did it's job.

Varroa is made more and more virulent through our treatments just as 
microbes causing human disease become more and more virulent through the 
same mechanisms.  Look at what treating immuno-compromised patients for 
gonococcus and Mycobacterium tuberculosis has done to those bugs over 
the last 10-20 years.  As those infections get treated they adapt to the 
point of not being treatable....  BY ANYTHING..   There is a lot more 
money being put into research for human disease than into treatments of 
varroa and I am telling you the future does not look good.  Do a google 
search.  The mass media may not be talking about it, but the last ASHP 
(American Society of Health-System Pharmacists) is.  The last week long 
meeting I went to there were many meetings discussing the lack of drugs 
in the pipeline.

The bigger/meaner (more virulent) they are the harder they fall. That is 
why outbreaks of things like Ebola are devastating, but relatively short 
lived/self limiting.

Valuing the individual hive over the species has caused this. Making the 
choice to value the individual hive over the species as a whole is a 
poor animal husbandry decision.  I contend those proposing anything but 
the Bond method are deceiving themselves. There is no way to divine what 
method bees will devise to overcome varroa, but if left alone they will 
find away....... and it doesn't matter to me what that method is.  They 
have been here a heck of a lot longer than us.  They have many tricks up 
their sleeves.

I hope I live long enough to see the outcome of all of all this. Perhaps 
all the treatment free people are wrong.  Time will tell......  Varroa 
aren't going anywhere.  I believe there is no scenario where they are 
just going to be gone as a result of anything we come up with... Both 
beekeepers AND bees are going to have to find a way to live WITH them.  
It is a foolish thing to think that only the STRONG survive and we need 
a varroa resistant bee.  We need a varroa TOLERANT bee and a strain of 
varroa that is less virulent.  It is more complex than just having a 
varroa resistant bee.  As with most things....  we caused this 
problem....  we just need to get out of the way so the bees can solve it.

Feral bees are finding ways to overcome varroa in my area....

Bob Dylan - You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind 
blows.....

Jason Bruns

letmbee.com <http://letmbee.com>




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