Good stuff Jim, thanks for contributing to the discussion. I don't have all the answers, of course. I have been trying to get the discussion out of the usual ruts, even if it means making off the wall statements. I don't have to hew to any official party line.

You write:
> We don't find ANY diseases increasing, except for those virus-driven problems clearly resulting from higher levels of varroa infestation. 

and 
>But look at how it becomes nearly universal in July and August, yet fades away in December! What stress could hives experience in South Dakota in July and Aug.?

I think you answer the question above. The chief "stress" I was referring to was precisely that, the hammering of the honey bee immune system by varroa & viruses. I think the two act in concert to push the colony to the tipping point. That's all I meant. We didn't have this prior to the 1990s.

P

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