> One more possibility he mentioned was that perhaps the mites are non-virulent

I don't know how you would test this.

I have been to the Arnot Forest, it's not far from my home. There are a lot
of bee hives around there, although not in the forest. But it is not very
large, there aren't large patches of wilderness around here any more!

Like I said, I think it has to do with the bees' swarming. You have a
serious break in the brood rearing in both the swarm and the parent. Some
European researchers experimented with this, I don't know what they found.

Peter Borst
Danby NY

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