Bob writes:

I agree basically with the conclusion but as far as chronic bee paralysis
virus I have to say *as earlier Baily research* said which is the virus
would have had little effect if not for the infestation of tracheal mites.

Bailey certainly did not believe this at a later date:

The natural control of the tracheal mite, Acarapis woodi, of the honey bee depends greatly on
good foraging opportunities for bee colonies and on limited competition between colonies. The severe,
widely-publicised disease of bees, referred to as ‘the Isle of Wight disease’ in Britain early in the last
century when colonies were more numerous than subsequently, was wrongly attributed to the mite,
which causes no overt symptoms. The disease was almost certainly caused by bee paralysis virus, which
does cause the symptoms and *is independent of the mite*, and which is similarly associated with large
densities of bee colonies.

The natural control of the tracheal mite of honey bees
L. BAILEY  and J.N. PERRY  2001

             ***********************************************
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

Access BEE-L directly at:
http://community.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-LSOFTDONATIONS.exe?A0=BEE-L