> This article seems to me to lay the most blame on high varroa load and nosema ceranae. Interestingly so did the CCD working group when they found nosema ceranae and KBV (spread by mites) in 100% of the samples.

Sure, but that doesn't establish them as a *cause*. Like with HIV patients, many organisms are present as *opportunistic infections*. I think high levels of nosema is more likely a *symptom* than a cause. This would explain why some hives crash with high levels and some don't. If the hive is basically healthy, nosema may be no more than a minor annoyance. 

By the way, I object to the dismissive tone of the previous post, which seems to regard a beekeeper with problems as somehow behind the curve. I know many extremely knowledgable beekeepers who still suffer severe losses, despite trying everything under the sun to get their bees in shape. 

In fact, a friend from SoCal tells me his bees were tanking despite heavy use of fumigillin while a neighbor had the best bees in years while doing nothing special. 

PLB

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