The Agricultural Research Service (ARS), part of the USDA , has released results of their research of their detailed genetic screening of honey bee samples dating back to 2002. They have found the Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV) has been in the US since at least 2002. So it appears as though Australia off the hook and the suggestion from the original research suggesting IAPV was a cause of Colony Colapse Disorder is wrong.
Of course the argument was that IAPV didn’t come in with the Australian imports in 2005-2007 because bees have been imported into Canada for many years prior to that with no CCD issues. So what do we know now? Other than IAPV itself didn’t arrive by way of the imports into the States initially and that IAPV can exist without CCD, not much. IAPV quite likely still has a connection to CCD, and IAPV still may have come from Australia, just by a different route, though on this second point I don’t think anyone has the samples to find out with any certainty and I really don’t think it matters. Research on IAPV now is focusing on "understanding differences in virulence across different strains of IAPV and interactions with other stress factors".
I know everyone is in a rush for answers and solutions, but it really isn’t helping when the scientific community starts jumping to answers based on tidbits of information.
