Bob Harrison wrote:

> Pg. 215
> "Dr. William T. Wilson , of the USDA ( known to Bob H. as "Bill" and the 
> lead USDA-ARS researcher on "Disappearing Disease") has suggested that 
> the CAUSE of "disappearing disease" is a GENETIC SHIFT in the honeybee 
> population. Undesirable GENES have caused a change in the physiology or 
> behavior of the bees. Dr. Wilson has undertaken EXTENSIVE RESEARCH  to 
> test his hypothesis."

Then

> To date CCD is simply a name for a set of symptoms with no single cause.

The same can be said about Disappearing disease, except its symptoms 
are more general than CCD. Jerry has refined the symptoms to identify 
something that has only recently been identified. That does not mean 
that the specific symptoms have not happened before, just that the 
discipline to segregate symptoms seems to not have been as rigorous.

If the problem is a shift in genetics, then when was the shift, since 
DD has been with us since the late 1800s? Almost every time back then, 
a pathogen was the supposed agent. Jim posted counter views to Dr. 
Wilson, so I guess we have competing science.

Could it be that the behavior has been with us all along? I take issue 
with it being undesirable, since it is a colony survivor behavior 
against a pathogen by infected bees leaving the colony which would 
save the remainder of the unaffected bees.

Bees leaving the colony has been seen with Varroa and Tracheal heavy 
colonies, especially Tracheal in winter where you will find bees 
clustered outside the hive in sub-zero weather. We know it is the 
virus that infects the bees and causes colony demise. There is that 
pathogen again.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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