>> >In any case, if there truly is a 1:1 correlation with virus, then we 
>> >have had CCD around for a long time and Tony was right, again.

> Yes, perhaps a long time: Disappearing disease time and again - Bee 
> Cholera, Fall dwindling disease, Isle of Wight disease, Marie-Celeste 
> Syndrome, Tracheal mite introduction.  Varroa introduction

--- From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_collapse#Symptoms ---

Symptoms

A colony which has collapsed from CCD is generally characterized by all of 
these conditions occurring simultaneously[18]:

Complete absence of adult bees in colonies, with little or no build-up of 
dead bees in or around the colonies.
Presence of capped brood in colonies. Bees normally will not abandon a hive 
until the capped brood have all hatched.
Presence of food stores, both honey and bee pollen:
   i. which are not immediately robbed by other bees
   ii. which when attacked by hive pests such as wax moth and small hive 
beetle, the attack is noticeably delayed.
Precursor symptoms that may arise before the final colony collapse are:
Insufficient workforce to maintain the brood that is present
Workforce seems to be made up of young adult bees
The Queen is present
The colony members are reluctant to consume provided feed, such as sugar 
syrup and protein supplement.

--- end quote ---

Well, assuming that all conditions must be present for diagnosis, the 
confounding issue in this particular case is the third condition listed. 
Without that one stipulation, we would have been justified all along in 
saying (as some of us have) this is just more of the same old thing.  This 
same old thing is seen every year, somewhere, and has good years and bad 
years.  How bad a bad year turns out to be partly appears dependant on how 
influential and vocal the beekeepers affected happen to be.

The observation  and stipulation of this one criterion has made CCD seem new 
and unique -- and thus a greater mystery and concern than it would otherwise 
have been.

If this essential requirement is withdrawn or downplayed (in the future), we 
can justifyably assume that we have been kidding ourselves (quite profitably 
for many) that this is something new, and not just the same old, same old.

Maybe long-term (not bandaid or proprietary) answers will come from a lab, 
but, it seems that they seldom have in the past, so I guess, it comes back 
to the same old question:

Do we have any survivors from CCD episodes to form the basis for a permanent 
solution? 

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