Hi Jim

> Please cite some examples, as
> I can't think of any unqualified success in
> this area. 


Isle of Wight disease in the UK.  Varroa in places such as E Russia, Tunisia, and also in Arizona.


> If this was true, why don't we today have 
> bees that are resistant to at least Nosema APIS?

I suspect that we do, and that once upon a time Nosema apis was the new (and devastating) kid on the block.  These days Nosema apis is a minor irritation.  It is probably the way with most pathogens, the race between host and pathogen, with a truce finally declared.

We've heard talk on here of 'dinks' that seemed to survive a dramatic sweep of what you and I believe was some kind of pathogen sweeping through yards.  Why do a few survive in the face of that pressure?  Surely the best guess is that they have useful genetics.  I'll go further - the habit of buying in bees in commercial yards makes the genetics mostly uniform in that yard, or even in that operation.  That genetic uniformity may be part of the reason why the US has CCD.  That's just speculation though - I can't provide proof.

all the best

Gavin

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