Since when does a hint turn into blame?
"This does not identify IAPV as the cause of CCD," said
Pettis. "What we have found is strictly a strong correlation
of the appearance of IAPV and CCD together. We have not
proven a cause-and-effect connection."
One can rephrase the above quotation with a one-word change and be just as correct.
"This does not identify varroa as the cause of CCD," said
Pettis. "What we have found is strictly a strong correlation
of the appearance of varroa and CCD together. We have not
proven a cause-and-effect connection."
Reading on:
"I still believe that multiple factors are involved in CCD,"
said Jeff Pettis, "and what we need to do is look at
combinations such as parasites, stress and nutrition
(together with the virus)."
Reading on a little further:
> IAPV-afflicted bees are typically found dead outside their hives.
The primary definition of CCD is that there are no bees dead outside the hive, and it was called disappearing disease before it was renamed CCD.
> Also open is the question of how the virus arrived in the US.
> One finger of suspicion points to Australia, from where the
> US began importing honeybees in 2004 - the very year that CCD
> appeared in US hives.
This ignores the fact that disappearing disease was reported in Florida two years before imports began. Also, Australia is an island that has a strict quarantine with stringent rules and regulations governing the importation of queen stock. It seems like an unlikely source of a new pathogen.
Were did IAPV originate? The researchers in Israel isolated it but no one has identified the source yet, and they also found IAPV in royal jelly imported from China.
The article at
http://tinyurl.com/2kbtjt notes that information is not being shared between members of the CCD team.
Some of the other members however are frustrated because
they too are being kept out of the loop.
"One would hope that if they had some new information that
was germane to solving the problem, whoever it is, would
share it with the rest of us. But we haven’t seen anything,
we’ve only heard rumors," says one of the members who
wished not be identified.
The jury is still out.