CWD gets clicks in the news right now. It’s mostly because humans are scared of it, but even if it was demonstrated that there is a 0% chance of human infection, it is still scary due to the population-level effects on multiple species. It shows symptoms after a couple months or years of the animal spreading it, and contributes to health loss and greater mortality before it directly causes death. Plus the less sexy ungulate diseases that go rampant every year, like epizootic hemorrhagic disease or the similar blue tongue disease, these ones kill quick so symptoms are noticed soon before death. Or more benign but still concerning diseases like botflies (google nasal bot pictures at your sanity’s peril)
Way back when I was studying @ UNSW we had a course “Animal Health” where the lecturer made the point vigorously that while SYDU taught “Veterinary Science” or identification and treatment of livestock that were sick, we studied why livestock stayed healthy ie immunology. Also Prof Sinclair was adamant that you cannot determine whether any particular animal is sick or healthy at any point of time, because all animals are under constant attack from infection from all vectors.
I’ve seen two or three in the last couple of years, but I do wonder a lot as to the genetics (Africanized?) of those hives. People were sweating Varroa mites in my area all the way back in maybe 1988 when I was taking a course in Medical Entomology
Could be African hybrids. Or, maybe one of the specially bred Varroa resistant strains, but those aren’t widely adopted so unlikely to be escaped. The resistant bees seem to have stronger defensive instincts in general, so they’re more aggressive and less productive. I’d rather just treat Varroa since it’s not a huge hassle once you get the hang of it.
Varroa destructor is now simply a permanent fact of beekeeping life in North America. Currently, the one we’re sweating is Acarapis woodii because it’s more harmful, though not nearly the spreader that Varroa is.