More from the Evans/Spivak paper, in which they cover the work done on bee pathology over the past 50 years: 

> We will discuss how human efforts to maintain healthy colonies intersect with similar efforts by the bees, and how bee management and breeding protocols can affect disease traits in the short and long term.

* So, they cover pretty much all the pathogens and all the current theories about the honey bee immune system. Most interesting are their conclusions:

> Beekeeping practices rely on using antibiotic and pesticide treatments to control pathogens and parasites. This approach is not sustainable and leads to contamination of hive equipment.

> While beekeepers engage in many management tactics to reduce disease in their colonies, recent research and emerging risks indicate three management tools that are underutilized in beekeeping and are perhaps especially relevant.

> First, the design of modern bee boxes could be modified to allow the construction of a propolis envelope.

> Second, it would be beneficial to allow colonies to construct new wax brood combs yearly to prevent the build up of pathogens and pesticides in the wax.

> Finally, rates of horizontal transmission of pathogens are likely to be at an all-time high in modern beekeeping, presenting great challenges.

* This last item is where they recommend -- "where feasible" -- staying home. Actually, they don't come right out and say it, preferring terminology as this:

> The movement of colonies across regions or countries should be carried out with great caution, and only when critical for the honey bee industry. Lucrative pollination contracts have in many ways sustained beekeeping in North America and elsewhere. Nevertheless, wide ranging transport of bees, favors the sharing of parasites and pathogens. 

* They don't say, move bees only when critical to Big Ag! Nothing in the paper about probiotics or RNA interference. Minimize hive inputs, instead. You could boil it down to a return to an earlier type of beekeeping, which doesn't involve high tech solutions and avoids large scale movement of colonies. Not sure how useful such a message would be to commercial beekeepers.

Socialized medicine: Individual and communal disease barriers in honey bees
Jay D. Evans, Marla Spivak

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