> I have mentioned Randy's suggestion that this forum might make a good
sampling for a research project with the hypothesis that bee stings may
potentially assist our bodies in some degree of immunity or tolerance to
the Corona Virus.

Thanks Gary.  As far as running an experiment at the current time, it would
require a large number of volunteer beekeepers and non beekeepers, all
either volunteering to get exposed the the virus, or being later tested for
presence of antibodies.  The latter suggests a simpler post-infected wave
analysis:

It's likely that many if not most of us will be exposed to coronavirus
before widespread vaccination takes place, so we will likely get an answer
to this question in retrospect, once a lot of beekeepers eventually get
tested for antibodies to the virus.  We can then ask each of them (if they
survive) what their body's response was to the virus, and compare that to
the (by then well-known) typical response by non beekeepers.

It's likely that most of us will be unwitting participants in the study.
And yes, such a post-infection study would not allow us beekeepers to relax
in confidence today, but the results will be of great interest to those not
yet exposed.

Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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