Pete>Once again, people point to a poorly understood phenomenon and carry it forward to conclusions that may not be warranted. The discovery of viruses in bees other than honey bees does not mean that the honey bee is the source of them, just because they were seen in HB first.

As a beekeeper, it seems impossible to avoid the subject of viruses although I have little credentials to discuss it and no tools to fight it except varroa control. It's also fascinating so with that in mind, I'm asking does the distinction of a primary host in the process of viral transmission have any real-world meaning when the populations of non-Apis and honey bees are out of balance? If one brings millions of A. mellifera to an area isn't it logical to assume that they harbor the majority of the viral community and may then become the default source of transmission?  I'm not suggesting this would even have consequences although the statement below from the Galbraith study leaves me to imagine some reverse negative implications at least for honey bees. Pure conjecture on my part, but could a geographic region build a reservoir of say, virulent DWV which then kills off a large population of bees, similar to what we saw in the northeast in 2016/2017 with losses in the 80% range. 

>Indeed, based on sequence analyses, the viral species that have been examined thus far seem to be shared within a geographic region rather than within a particular bee species, suggesting that there may not necessarily be bee species-specific viral strains. Thus, it is likely that non-Apis
populations also harbor viruses which can spill over into A. mellifera.




Bill Hesbach
Cheshire CT

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