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Sun, 3 Aug 2008 13:44:45 -0400 |
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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
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