Aussie bees cleared of US colony collapse?

Claims that Australia exported a virus that may have caused US bee colonies to collapse have been questioned with the release of new scientific findings.

Dr Jay Evans and Dr Yanping Chen of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) question the role of the bee virus in the so-called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)."[The virus] was present in US bees collected several years prior to CCD, and prior to the recent importation into the US of honey bees from Australia," the researchers write in the American Bee Journal.The US$17 billion US honey bee industry has been thrown into disarray since a mysterious agent caused hives to collapse.During the 2006-2007 northern hemisphere winter, a quarter of beekeepers lost more than half of their hives, jeopardising the livelihood of farmers and orchardists who need bees for pollination.Australian bee expert Dr Doug Somerville of New South Wales Department of Primary Industriessays "Australian packages only arrived on the US shore in 2005 so the linkage with Australia is just garbage."

In my opinion, this virus was a new one that we never seen before. However, bees are an amazing animals that we had in Australia. That a good time of recover in Australia.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news