Don,
 
In a recent message you wrote:
>
>   John
>
>  It seems to me that the USDA has no facilities for virus testing, since
> they just hired Anderson from Australia to do their virus testing recently.
>
> Don Tinker
> HCR2 Box 9563
> Keaau, HI 96749
> [log in to unmask]
 
You haven't been reading your American Bee Journals.  Drs. Hachiro Shiminuki
and Akey Hung from the Beltsville Bee Lab with Jean Adams (whose title I do
not know) from the Beltsville Insect Biocontrol Laboratory published an
article on bee viruses in the October ABJ.  Earlier the Bee lab did a survey
of bee viruses around the United States.  At our Maryland State Beekeepers
Assn. spring meeting in April this year, Dr. Shiminuki told us that the
Beltsville Bee Lab is one of three in the world that is qualified to identify
bee viruses.
 
So, the answer is, yes, they are qualified to do virus testing.
 
Regards,
David Morris, President
Maryland State Beekeepers Assn.