Jerry,
I have been hearing the same thing. I believe you are the right person to 
take a look. I suspect two peoblems.

1. contaminated wax. The area you speak of has been the worse for using off 
label treatments for varroa. My source is the last Apiary Inspectors of 
America meeting I attended. Jeff Pettis.

2. Many of the larger beekeepers are having a tough time adjusting to using 
apiguard, apilife var and formic pads. Many have been simply waiting too 
late to treat. If so PMS signs should be easy to see.

Also as I told Keith Delaplane when we met in Kansas about six weeks ago. 
Beekeepers in Georgia are seeing virus problems start way below what he 
considers as treatment threshold. Myself and a few others believe that comb 
containing a large amount of virus is the problem. To kill the virus some 
have been using radiation on PMS comb in Florida.

Hope the above helps! Good luck! Maybe you can share your observations on 
BEE-L on your return. 

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison

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