> You should be careful in giving a diagnosis of non infestation if the
> trachea is not discoloured under x10 magnification. I dissected a bee and
> under x10 the trachea looked clear. I dissected the trachea out to mount
and
> under X40 found a mite lurking in it.
>
> Ruary Rudd

Ruary

That is why I said that I would take blackened trachaea as a positive
indicator of an acarine infestation, not that I would take non-discoloured
trachaea as an indicator that there was no infestation at all.

But is this not true for most diseases, whether we are talking about bees or
any other organism?  Many pathogens can be present in such small numbers
that they are not apparent - a few dozen varroa, a few hundred AFB or EFB
bacteria - and in most cases are not worth worrying about.

In the case of acarine, I have now given up sampling or treating for it
because we just do not have a problem - I think that lack of treatment
caused the susceptible colonies to die out and the stock that we now have is
able to cope most of the time; however, I have no doubt that there are some
mites in some of my bees.  Now all we have to do is achieve the same balance
with varroa!

Peter Edwards
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