Clues sought in honey bees' demise

LONDON, July 1 (UPI) -- British scientists say they getting closer to discovering why billions of honey bees have died in recent years.

Research published in the Journal of General Virology suggests the deadly wing virus that has been linked to the collapse of honey bee colonies does not replicate in a parasitic mite called Varroa destructor as previously thought.

It had been widely accepted that the virus multiplies in the mite and is then transmitted to bees when it bites. Researchers at Rothamsted Research and the University of Nottingham, however, said the virus was found only in the gut, suggesting the mite had merely eaten an infected bee.

"Experiments and field observations have shown that V. destructor is able to transmit several different unrelated honey bee viruses, like acute bee paralysis virus and Kashmir bee virus, as well as deformed wing virus," Teresa Santillan-Galicia of Rothamsted Research said in a statement. "But we still don't know exactly how these viruses are passed from the mite to the bee."