>When varroa arrives, it may first be one of the paralytic viruses that cause problems, but this will likely soon self correct, although it appears to be lingering in NZ.

Randy am I interpreting you correctly in that after a while DWV will not be a problem?

>Then the question is which forms of DWV the first mites introduced into Australia carry, as well as your bees' innate resistance to various viruses.

Our positon is that we hope that when varroa arrives it does not carry DWV.  It happened in New Zealand.   They got DWV with the semen importation.  Also the interception of the bees, that had V. destructor, from Texas at Melbourne port last year did not have DWV or SPV. 

> Note that in South Africa, despite varroa having been there for nearly 20 years, DWV is apparently not an issue.  Very strange!

Could this be because they are either capensis or scutellata and not the bees we keep?

Trevor Weatherhead
Australia

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