Hello Chris & All,
I remember reading the below when I was deep into the Bailey virus research
several years ago.

 What Bailey says is:

"....the incidence of severe cases of paralysis is positively and
significantly associated with the population density of colonies.

This is why when colonies peak in late summer in the Midwest problems
manifest. Another reason is because of adverse weather (drought) most queens
shut down which in my opinion makes the number of virus effected individuals
rise. Up until that point the bees are raising a couple thousand new brood a
day and are kind of out running virus issues.

I would like to use a researchers name right now but all posts using her
name are rejected so I will simply say the researchers work shows that
despite virus spreading through the hive certain bees do not become infected
( reason unknown but one hypothesis is those bees do not have a weakened
immune system).
However she says the bees which are not infected can still transmit the
virus. I think the same could be said for flu virus in people.

> The more bees are crowded  together within their colonies the more
efficiently is the virus transmitted.

 >This is because the hairs on the cuticle of the bees are broken by close
bodily  contact, and the virus is carried in and transmitted to the
temporarily exposed cytoplasm of the underlying tissue.

This is a known method ( dated 60's) of virus transmission confirmed by
later
U.K. research since Bailey but several other methods are likely including
the varroa mite today.

The above is taken out of context and is only one method. I remember reading
the above and believe the above is from the period of around 1963 which is
BEFORE varroa. Maybe Chris will provide the date Bailey said the above?


 >Crowding in the winter cluster does  not
spread paralysis because bees are then torpid and unlikely to damage one
another."

This only applies to virus spread by hair breakage. Even though the above is
(in my opinion) dated material it is important (thanks to Chris for posting)
because it might shed some light as to why when very populous colonies are
trucked a long way virus issues could manifest quicker *on arrival* due to
the breaking of hairs in the cluster during transit. I do not know of a
migratory beekeeper today which uses the invention to keep the bottoms of
comb from swinging in transit. However many used those in the early days of
migratory beekeeping including myself. Perhaps migratory beekeepers might
take another look at those again? I can't remember now who sold those but
they acted like a spacer and were made of a heavy wire into which the frame
bottoms fit. They were common when we moved hives by hand with bottom
boards.

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison





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