>Unfortunately, Paul, they are still around and very active, as always.
>Their migration is slow enough, however, that the attention on them comes
>and goes.  There's always more attention when someone gets seriously hurt or
>killed.
>
>There are two fortunate aspects from my vantage-point; they haven't arrived
>here, in our part of Texas :) (although they are in south Texas):(, and they
>are susceptable to the varroa mite, which might check them before they
>become too bad.
>
>
>Cheers,
>
>
>Mike Wallace
>Sar Shalom Apiary
 
It was my understanding that the Africanized bees were not so susceptible
to varroa; that beekeepers in South America were finding the mites, but
that the colonies were surviving without treatments. (Something about the
bees biting at the mites?)  Along similar lines, the native hosts of varroa
in Asia - Apis cerana, I believe -- what is their control mechanism
(biting?); over time they must have reached some sort of balance with the
parasites.