Aaron, you hit the nail on the head. 
I spent time with some missionary friends of mine who lived  in the mountains of Nepal a few years ago. We worked with the locals and the local bees-apis cerana. These bees are supposed to be the native host of varroa and are supposed to be resistant. Most of the hives are small, compared to the monster, non swarming hives we manage. Due to the nature of the monsoon and nectar flows, there was no swarming in the village hives that summer. These people live for swarms-cultural thing. The hives normally make 2KG of honey per year. We witnessed hives crashing with PMS from high varroa loads, just like most of ours will when left untreated. The beekeeper treated with apistan to try to salvage his hives. The commercial beekeepers normally kill the queens after the honey harvest , let them raise a new one and add a piece of artemesia plant (related to wormwood-has essential oils that repel and kill mites). Hence a broodless period, and a soft mite treatment. This also goes with Seeleys observations of small hive size and swarming as a method of reducing mite levels .
These bees are maybe more tolerant of the mites/viruses, but are not resistant ,even though they are the native hosts. 
Just my 2 cents and observations.I would love to bee TF but not counting on it coming to pass in my lifetime.Nick Shilliffgridley hollow honey

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