Hi all
Viruses and other pathogens are essentially ubiquitous. With the exception of overt infections like Foulbrood, I submit that the levels of virus and other pathogens in equipment do not warrant destruction or irradiation. In fact, in an effort to stamp out chalkbrood in laboratory bee equipment at Cornell, we had hundreds of hives irradiated. This did not prevent the recurrence of chalkbrood at all.
To prevent disease in hives you need to begin with healthy colonies and have beneficial environmental conditions. If the bees are weakened by poor conditions, stress from long distance transport, overcrowding, and/or varroa mites, they will succumb to viruses and the so-called stress diseases like European foulbrood, and chalkbrood.
On the other hand, many authorities recommend comb replacement or fumigation with acetic acid. One has to weigh the cost of replacement of equipment with the benefit (if any) obtained. It is an old saying among beekeepers that a good honey flow will clean up all problems. Unfortunately, this does not include varroa infestation. "Hygienic bees" are the ultimate answer, of course.
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Shen and colleagues detected KBV and SBV in colony food, including honey, pollen and royal jelly, as well as in all developmental stages of bees. BQCV and DWV [were] present in over 80% of the examined brood and adult workers in the bee colonies where the colony food was collected. -- Mutinelli, F. (2011). The spread of pathogens through trade in honey bees and their products (including queen bees and semen): overview and recent developments
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Based on observations and concurrent research demonstrating suppressed immune responses in bees infested with mites, we propose that parasitization by varroa suppresses the immunity of honey bees, leading to activation of persistent, latent viral infection. -- From Shen, M., Yang, X., Cox-Foster, D., & Cui, L. (2005). The role of varroa mites in infections of Kashmir bee virus (KBV) and deformed wing virus (DWV) in honey bees:
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