> I find the arguments for preferring washes over drops to be circular. "Washes are good because they can be compared to mite wash benchmarks."

May be circular, but this is my main reason for preferring them. I have done these for 15 years. A lot has changed, but the one thing that is the same is me, and my way of sampling. So the difference in the mite counts is not due to me, nor my method. 

On the other hand, levels of mites may mean different things than they did back then. Mortality may occur at lower levels than before or higher levels, even, depending on viral load on the one hand and mite tolerance on the other.

Also, less effective treatments may need to start at lower levels, knowing that the overall kill may be 60-80 percent with soft treatments vs. 90+% with some of the so-called hard ones (when they still worked)

Pete

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