CCD, external acarine mites, and prions.
 
Hello All,
 
Here is some speculation.
 
Jerry Bromenshenk said that when hives showing CCD were moved into an
apiary, nearby colonies which were previously healthy began showing CCD.
Therefore a causative agent apparently spread from the original infected
colonies. 
 
There are reports of localised, CCD-like collapses from throughout the
last 100-odd years in the U.S., under other names such as `spring
dwindling', `autumn collapse', and `disappearing disease'. 
 
So perhaps the same agent has been around for a long time, much longer
than the Israeli virus and/or Nosema ceranae? 
 
So what could have transmitted the agent? The external acarine mites,
Acarapis dorsalis and A. externus, were known from North America long
before the advent of the internal acarine mite and varroa. Both external
acarine mites feed on bee blood, the former on the underside and sides
of the neck of a bee, and the latter on the thorax, through the
intersegmental membranes. So perhaps these mites vectored the infective
agent?
 
What infective agent could cause foragers to not return to hives?
Prions in mammals infect the brain, causing, scrapie in sheep, kuru in
humans in the New Guinea Highlands, and Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease (CJD,
mad cow disease) in humans in Europe and elsewhere. The central nervous
system decays with consequent loss of memory etc. Prions are
differently-folded proteins which can replicate by causing other
proteins to fold in a similar way. 
 
Prions are known to occur in some insects.
 
Perhaps the advent of acarine and varroa in North America has greatly
increased the distribution and rate of spread of prions infecting the
brains of bees, causing memory loss and so failure of foragers to return
to hives, and so resulting in the widespread collapse of many more
colonies than previously?  
 
Is anyone looking for prions in bees?
 
Regards,
Barry Donovan,
New Zealand.
 
      



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