> Can anyone name more than a dozen or two that are known to have induced problems at any time?

I think you misinterpreted what they were saying, they were saying that most microorganisms in the honey bee do NOT cause illness. They narrowed down widespread collapse to the varroa/virus complex. If the colony is weakened by this combo, the resulting imbalance can cause other microorganisms to increase beyond "normal" levels.

But the point is not how many organisms are there, but which ones cause fatality. So, maybe none of these things alone causes fatality in the bee colony. A colony can handle mites or virus or nosema or brood disorder or bad environmental conditions. But if more than a few of these are present, the colony "gets sick" and sometimes dies. Not so different from us, you think?

By the way, the subject is "proper diagnosis of bee diseases'. Regardless of you philosophy on treatment or non-treatment, it is still absolutely essential to know what the health of the hives is. It simply won't do to blithely kick back and say microbes are all natural, let the bees handle it. I submit that to take such a position would be ignorant. We don't know everything, but we do not a lot, and some of what we know is actionable.

PLB

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