The snag with the "sterile hive management" proposal is that bees do drift
from one colony to another, so the mites with all their baggage get spread
around no matter what you as a beekeeper do.
 
The only time I have invoked the "sterile hive management" philosophy and
stopped work, went home and alchohol cleaned my equipment was when I ran into
a hive with American Foulbrood.  (The hive was also killed and sealed with
the Handyman's Secret Weapon - duct tape).
 
W. G. Miller
Gaithersburg, MD