Aaron Morris wrote
 
"Varroa attack bees via a "drill like" structure of their mouth parts
that they use to puncture bees' exoskeleton allowing the vampire mite
to suck bees' hemolymph.  Speculation is that these puncture wounds are
the avenues/entry points for virus attack."
 
I am not a micriobiologist however from my experience of viruses I
understand this lifeform constantly requires a host or can exist also in a
carrier normally parasitic to its target host. Some viruses can survive
outside their host or carrier for a short time but normally encapsulated in
some sort of bodily fluid. eg. influenza in a sneeze droplet.
 
My questions are do varroa act as carriers and spreaders of bee virus? Have
the viruses spoken of been identified and their effects studied? Can such
viruses be spread through queen breeding operations? Am I making a mountain
out of a molehill ???
 
Regards
Rob Bowman