[Pollinator] [beemonitoring] Scare Tactics?

Tue Feb 9 07:29:17 PST 2016

It would be good if those who announce the finding of viruses that are new
or in new species could hold to a standard of science reporting that
includes confirmation of both replication and pathogenicity.  The first of
these is easy once the RNA sequence is known but the second takes some
effort. Viruses can be complicated. there is no merit in "crying wolf", but
on the other hand we have experiences like Zika virus which was considered
insignificant until the possibility of a major pathogenic outcome arose.

The other problems in working with viruses is the lack of diagnostic
symptoms and the lack of quantitative thresholds for the results of
molecular methods of detection.

For interest, I have attached a PDF of a USDA bulletin from 1914 that
describes the symptoms of viruses. Viruses must have been a new phenomenon
at the time,but the knowledge have been forgotten and rediscovered several
times since then. Notice how similar they are to the symptoms described for
pesticide poisoning.  A troubling ambiguity.

John Purdy, PhD

On Mon, Feb 8, 2016 at 8:54 AM, Stoner, Kimberly <Kimberly.Stoner at ct.gov>
wrote:

> Hi Russel and others,
>
> Deformed wing virus and black queen cell virus have been found in some
> species of bumble bees here in the US.  We collected Bombus impatiens and
> sent them off to John Burand at the University of Massachusetts as part of
> a larger project and he found both of these viruses in our bumble bees from
> several different locations (pumpkin/squash fields) around Connecticut.
> Others have also found honey bee viruses in other bees.
>
>
>
> Finding these viruses with PCR is not the same as showing that they
> replicate or are pathogenic in bumble bees.  That has been shown with DWV
> and  B. terrestris in the UK, but not yet with US species, to my knowledge.
>
> Kim
>
>
>
> *From:* beemonitoring at yahoogroups.com [mailto:
> beemonitoring at yahoogroups.com] *On Behalf Of *Russel Barsh
> rlbarsh at gmail.com [beemonitoring]
> *Sent:* Saturday, February 06, 2016 11:40 PM
> *To:* Peter Bernhardt <bernhap2 at slu.edu>
> *Cc:* Bee United <beemonitoring at yahoogroups.com>; Pollinator List-serv <
> pollinator at lists.sonic.net>; Graham Pyke <Graham.Pyke at uts.edu.au>;
> Gerardo Camilo <camilogr at slu.edu>; James Trager <James.Trager at mobot.org>
> *Subject:* Re: [beemonitoring] Scare Tactics?
>
>
>
>
>
> Peter --
>
> We read the underlying article in SCIENCE and yes, I think the press story
> you cited is implying that DWV is the sole or principal cause of colony
> collapse, and that its spread is a consequence of global bee-keeping. The
> underlying article argues from phylogenetic data that DWV is an ancestral
> disease of honeybees, but that its transmission has been facilitated by
> Varroa mites as carriers. Living with a beekeeping and honey-making family
> (my in-laws on the islands here), I hear stories all the time about sloppy
> inexperienced beekeepers that don't take proper measures to control mites.
> So the story may have been better titled "Sloppy beekeeping facilitates
> transmission of DWV worldwide".
>
> I'm much more disturbed by the evidence published in NATURE in 2014 for
> honeybee viruses jumping to bumblebees. We really need to do more
> collecting of wild bees and genomic screening for viruses such as DWV that
> could be spread by domesticated and commercialized bees to wild species.
>
> I've been collecting wild herring (a whole different side of my science
> life) for colleagues at USGS here that are studying viral epidemics in fish
> that may be transmitted up the food chain i.e. from small fish to their
> predators. It's an angle I would like to help launch in the study of
> pollinator networks.
>
> Thanks for throwing a spotlight on misleading reportage...
>
>
>
> Russel.
>
> Russel
>
> Russel Barsh
>
> Director, KWIAHT
>
> PO Box 415, Lopez Island WA 98261
>
>
>
> On Sat, Feb 6, 2016 at 3:18 AM, Peter Bernhardt bernhap2 at slu.edu
> [beemonitoring] <beemonitoring-noreply at yahoogroups.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> Please go to the following link.  Do you think the media is overdoing it,
> just a bit, or is the situation as grim as they make it?  Some sites are
> referring to the virus as a man-made (vs. man spread) disease.
>
>
>
> http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160204150617.htm
>
>
>
> __._,_.___
> ------------------------------
>
> Posted by: Russel Barsh <rlbarsh at gmail.com>
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-- 
John Purdy PhD
Environmental Scientist
Abacus Consulting Services Ltd
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