On honey bee viruses Although almost all of the viruses of bees have been shown to shorten the lives of individuals, their impact under normal circumstances may be slight or transitory. Indeed, the persistence of a number of distinct viruses in apparently healthy, permanent colonies further emphasizes the innate ability of bees to resist the multiplication and spread of these infections. This natural propensity is most evident when colonies of bees are allowed to develop and undertake their normal activities unhindered; an ideal which is increasingly difficult to attain with the demands of modern intensive beekeeping, particularly migratory and pollination work. Ball, B. (1996). Honey bee viruses: a cause for concern? Bee World, 77(3), 117-119. * * * It is worth noting that the death of a honey bee colony due to natural causes, including disease, is within the scope of reasonable expectations for a living organism Recently, numerous prevalence studies have underscored the role of viral infections in honey bee colony losses. However, the design of many of these studies was rather weak. These studies substantiated the observation that covert virus infections are widespread and common in asymptomatic colonies. It is without question that Varroa infestation poses the most serious threat to the Western honey bee colonies and that this is related to the mite’s ability to vector virus infections or to exacerbate preexisting infections [39]. Virus infections of honey bees became a serious health problem for entire colonies only after Varroa started to infest honey bee colonies. McMenamin, A. J., & Genersch, E. (2015). Honey bee colony losses and associated viruses. Current Opinion in Insect Science, 8, 121-129. *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html