> restocking the previous autumn's deadouts > from the varroa/virus complex with bees > the following spring, does not appear to > be problematic To quote Yankees pitcher Oscar Gamble: “People don’t think it be like it is, but it do.” For example, viruses can easily be spread via contact with bee feces alone. "This is the first experimental confirmation that infectious CBPV particles excreted in the feces of infected bees can infect naive bees and provoke overt disease by mere confinement of naive bees in a soiled environment." Appl Environ Microbiol. 2007 Dec; 73(23): 7711–7716. doi: 10.1128/AEM.01053-07 "Spread of Infectious Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus by Honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) Feces" M. Ribière, P. Lallemand, A.-L. Iscache, F. Schurr, O. Celle, P. Blanchard, V. Olivier, and J.-P. Faucon http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2168079/ http://tinyurl.com/jrjrhr5 Stored pollen can also carry some virus, as pollen collected from flowers has been shown to be a "horizontal transmission vector". http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0113448 http://tinyurl.com/hpdfek5 "Infectivity of DWV Associated to Flower Pollen: Experimental Evidence of a Horizontal Transmission Route" Mazzei , Carrozza , Luisi, Forzan, Giusti, Sagona, Tolari , Felicioli doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0113448 It has been well-known for decades that Nosema is spread by combs from nosema-infected hives, I remember getting some push-back from Randy on that, as his conditions are apparel dryer, and he apparently did not see what was seen in the damper areas of the country. Nosema is not a virus, but I remember when it was a "protozoan", before it was reclassified as a "fungi". I doubt it can be reclassified yet again as a virus, but I’ll not step into the crossfire of the fierce battle that is taxonomy. :) I do not know if anyone has tried to look at horizontal transmission of ABPV/KBV/IAPV via combs. No one had heard of any of this zoo of viruses until after varroa invaded, so if there is horizontal transmission, they do not replicate fast enough to become a serious issue without the help of varroa. I am not sure how one would kill off various viruses on comb, or in pollen in one's own barn, but I can heartily endorse acetic as a very good idea for all brood combs that are to be reused, rather than melted and recycled, well worth the hassle. In NJ and in MA, beekeepers collectively irradiate their brood combs, which is said to leave nothing alive in its wake, so there should be a chart somewhere listing how much gamma-ray or e-beam energy over what time would be needed to kill each virus off over the width of a 10-frame hive. Speaking of combs... whatever happened with the "entombed pollen" thing? I have a copy of the paper cited below for anyone who has yet to read it, but this seems to have turned out to be far less serious and far less widespread than initially thought. ‘‘Entombed Pollen”: A new condition in honey bee colonies associated with increased risk of colony mortality" Dennis vanEngelsdorp, Jay D. Evans, Leo Donovall, Chris Mullin, Maryann Frazier, James Frazier, David R. Tarpy, Jerry Hayes Jr., Jeffery S. Pettis Journal of Invertebrate Pathology Volume 101, Issue 2, June 2009, Pages 147–149 doi:10.1016/j.jip.2009.03.008 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002220110900055X *********************************************** 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