So how do we know that it may be an HIV type virus and not just all of the stress factors? For one, CCD seems to be contagious among migrating
populations, and is occurring all over the world in environments with and without pesticides, drought, genetically modified food, or weather changes.
It occurs in bees that are wild and those that are used to pollinate crops. The virus seems to have been mutating and becoming more powerful for
years. In 1915, bees were locally disappearing from their colonies, and it happened again in the 1960s. Now, some bee populations are being affected
by new diseases. For example, the varroa mite has infected bees for ages, but it wasn't until 2006 that scientists in Europe discovered the
Varroa Destructor Virus
(VDV-1). The virus makes the membranes of bees to break down. Scientists say that the virus itself does not cause CCD and is not present in all CCD
populations, but it is likened to the outbreak of "rare" diseases in patients with HIV. The VDV-1 virus has been present in these mites before 2006.
Why suddenly did it cause symptoms in the hosts (honeybees)? Another organism, Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV) has also been correlated to CCD
just like VDV-1, but also does not cause CCD.
My implication is that this is how immunodeficiency viruses like HIV form. Stress factors on a species weaken the immune systems, or conditions with
poor sanitation allow viruses to mutate and flourish. According to
Berkeley, viruses like HIV, SIV (in other primates), and FIV (in felines)
are all closely related. It is obvious that if a virus is causing CCD and suppressing the immune systems of otherwise healthy populations through
migration of the virus, this virus would be classified as an immunosuppressant virus, like HIV, SIV, and FIV, because of how the virus functions.
There has been significant speculation as to the origins of HIV, and although there is significant evidence to point to government involvement in
either the creation or distribution of the virus, or both, I would like to speculate on the possibility that viruses like HIV can evolve naturally.
The Berkeley report states an interesting fact, that "studies of these related viral lineages showed... primates with SIV and wild cats with FIV
don't seem to be harmed by the viruses they carry." For this statement to be true, which I believe it is, it implies that either the virus has
mutated to coexist inside the host, or that the immune systems of felines and sapiens afflicted by the viruses have evolved to keep the animal healthy
even with the virus. So, perhaps the government is responsible for the difference between humans and these organisms. However, the bees seem to be
getting sick just like humans do.
Perhaps a virus like HIV can, and does, mutate to become what it exists as in the human population. There are many stress factors, especially in
underdeveloped countries in Africa where the virus seems to have originated from. Overpopulation is a factor, and in cases of overpopulation, the
species will somehow be regulated. Maybe HIV is the human regulator, and the government does not need to be responsible for it, nature is doing it
itself. Other stresses on humans include bacteria and viruses that are known, parasites, congenital disorders, and so many more factors. Perhaps we
are just bees, and we are suffering from CCD ourselves. We do not have the instinct to leave the colony when we come down with disease, but we do try
and take precautions against spreading it to one another.
I really considered the possibility that the government could be responsible for the cause of CCD as a method of creating new jobs or perhaps by
accident when experimenting with HIV, if they ever did. It's not possible. The reason? We would starve without honeybees to pollinate our crops.
Millions would lose jobs. New technology, millions of dollars of funding, would be required unless humans pollinated each plant themselves.
Additional Sources
A great PBS video on CCD
Another beekeeper's CCD site
Abstract of CCD Report
Human Risks of Losing
Honeybee Pollination
A Good Summary of CCD
All Sources Used
www.epa.gov...
www.fao.org...
www.sciencedaily.com...
www.pbs.org...
www.westonaprice.org...
www.pickenscountyscbeekeepers.com...
www.ars.usda.gov...
www.carolinabees.com...
www.realtruth.org...
www.labtechnologist.com...
www.sciencemag.org...
evolution.berkeley.edu...
www.dailyrecord.co.uk...
(Post 2 of 2)
[edit on 2/6/2009 by ravenshadow13]


But seriously, maybe someone is hoarding them?Sounds
too "James Bond", it is most likely environmental.


