> >Randy am I interpreting you correctly in that after a while DWV will not > be a problem? > Sorry, no. The most virulent strains of the other viruses will be weeded out, then leaving DWV as the main player--if varroa levels are allowed to climb in your colonies. If varroa levels are kept very low all year long, then virus dynamics go back to something similar as before varroa. > > >Our position is that we hope that when varroa arrives it does not carry > DWV. > Good luck with that : ) Make sure that Biosecurity only allows a mite without DWV to be the first one allowed into your country. > > > 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? > I'm not clear on this. I haven't seen research comparing the innate viral resistance of those subspecies to the European subspecies. A big question to me is why our bees haven't developed full immunity to some of these viruses. Is it because the viruses are continually evolving new strains, as does influenza virus in humans, or is it something else? We still have much to learn... -- Randy Oliver Grass Valley, CA www.ScientificBeekeeping.com *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html