It has been noted that the reason for studying viruses in honey bees is to possibly eliminate them as the root cause of CCD or any other such devastating malady that might come along. This seems obvious to me. To suggest that studying viruses is somehow a waste of time would reveal a mind that is already made up or is otherwise non objective. Even if viruses were not suspected of playing any role in CCD it would be important to study them in depth because they are there. They are a part of the whole biological system that we call a honey bee. To say that studying viruses in honeybees is a waste of time is like saying that studying individual bees is a waste of time because it is the colony we should be focusing on. That said the reality is that there apparently isn’t much we can do about viruses in honeybees. In humans our main line of defense is vaccination, but that is not going to work for insects. Isolation is another means of controlling at least the spread of viruses in humans, and it works to a limited degree. It’s interesting that the same problem we have with humans in this regard we also have with honeybees. We want and need to be mobile and we want and need our bees to be mobile. There may be some people who think we can conquer viruses through breeding, but that would be delusional. Viruses are changing and adapting at a much faster rate than we could ever keep up with through breeding. Nope, the only defense honeybees have against viruses is also one of the best defenses we humans have and that is by staying healthy and strong. No matter how much we study and learn about viruses we will always come back to that reality. But that’s not necessarily bad news. Theoretically, as beekeepers we should have some control over the general state of health of our bees. It is the one thing that keeps coming through for me in all this never ending discussion of CCD and other similar problems. Sound practices, things like keeping varroa counts low, insuring a good source of high quality (non lethal) pollen, simulating swarming by making regular splits of your stronger hives, avoiding exposure to extremes of temperature, using the least toxic approaches to treatments that are effective, etc, etc. Some would add not trucking your hives clear across the country on semis to that list, but if that is what you do for a living that advice doesn’t do you much good. You just know you have to do what ever you can to compensate for any stress that might put on them. You never know what’s going to hit you next as a beekeeper, but if it’s a virus, and your bees are healthy, you may have a chance. In fact it may be your only hope. Steve Noble **************************************************** * General Information About BEE-L is available at: * * http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/default.htm * ****************************************************