Hello Peter & All,

Peter said:
 Bob, I was rather taken aback by your response:

I did a short blunt post on a complicated subject. Sorry!

>Are you saying that they are wrong?

I am saying that keeping a hive free of dwv virus spores is almost
impossible. Words from the U.K.!

 Interesting hypothesis of theirs  to be sure but does not exactly fit what
we have seen in the U.S.. I certainly respect their work and trying to help
with the U.S. problem.

> (Note for Brenda:  Must try harder and provide only solutions in future!)

Hello ! There is no solution! A dead end street !

>So we are back to varroa munching on the pupa vectoring the disease.

> Vectoring - yes, but I understood your post to mean that the damage was
caused by the 'munching' (define!) per se.

Munching ( varroa feeding) is the root of the problem. Eliminate large scale
varroa infestation on ALL virus problems become a non issue. Our bee labs
told us this from the start. What difference does it make which virus killed
your hive. Parasitic Mite syndrum (PMS) is the best way to aproach the
subject with  the average beekeeper.

We have got good bee labs in the U.S. but they are not on a level of some
private beekeeping research. Have the labs  ever done any small cell
research? Virus research? Virus spore research? Varroa tolerance research
other than SMR? I could go on and on.

> Spores???  How would melting comb and boiling frames eliminate viruses
from  the bees?

By eliminating the source (other than the bees) of the virus. I was able to
find almost no information on the virus spores of the three virus problems
which were the problem in the U.S..

Private research suggests once a hive has had a large outbreak of DWV then
when a new package if hived on those combs and the varroa levels approach a
high level the PMS hive shows PMS faster than a hive on new comb.
We have got an experiment going on right now testing the hypothesis.

> First understanding - then solutions?

Do you think a solution will be found? The understanding has not changed for
me. Still the same PMS problem and the only solution is to keep varroa loads
down.
I admit I have become quite familiar with PMS doing varroa tolerance
research and last year looking at over a 1000 deeps of combs with PMS in
yards of another beekeeper. Some were melted and some recycled. They are the
experiment.

research
> dollars
> poured into a virus project which has no solution.

 Without research, how can we know whether there are solutions?

How long will we chase a solution for PMS?

I said:
 The Russian bee shoots big holes in the U.K. hypothesis!

 Not if the bee is resistant to the virus and is able to carry it as an
inapparent infection?

Dr. Shiminuki (retired head Beltsville Bee Lab) saw the Russian bee as being
able to handle PMS over a decade ago.

So lets drop the U.K. virus research and instead move to importing and
incorporating the Russian into your breeding programs. Would be money well
spent in my eyes!

Every once in awhile at the horse track a "long shot" comes in and pays big!
But it is a proven fact that if you went to the track every week and only
bet the "long shots" you will soon be broke.

Bob

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