The global spread of the ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor has promoted the spread and virulence of highly infectious honey bee viruses. This phenomenon is considered the leading cause for the increased number of colony losses experienced by the mite-susceptible European honey bee populations in the Northern Hemisphere. Most of the honey bee populations in Central and South America are Africanized honey bees, which are considered more resistant to Varroa compared to European honey bees . However, the relationship between Varroa levels and spread of honey bee viruses in Africanized honey bees remains unknown. In this study, we determined Varroa prevalence and infestation levels as well as the prevalence of seven major honey bee viruses in Africanized honey bees from three regions of Colombia. We found that although Varroa exhibited high prevalence (92%), its infestation levels were low (4.6%) considering that these populations never received acaricide treatments. We also detected four viruses in the three regions analyzed, but all hives were asymptomatic, and virus prevalence was considerably lower than those found in other countries with higher rates of mite-associated colony loss ( DWV 19.88%, BQCV 17.39%, SBV 23.4 %, ABPV 10.56%). Our findings indicate that AHBs possess natural resistance to Varroa that does not prevent the spread of this parasite among their population, but restrains mite population growth and suppresses the prevalence and pathogenicity of mite-associated viruses.

中文翻译：

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哥伦比亚的非洲蜜蜂表现出很高的流行率，但瓦罗螨的侵染水平较低，病原病毒的流行率较低

外寄生螨Varroa破坏剂的全球传播促进了高传染性蜜蜂病毒的传播和毒力。这种现象被认为是北半球对欧洲螨虫敏感的蜜蜂种群数量增加的主要原因。中美洲和南美洲的大多数蜜蜂种群都是非洲化的蜜蜂，与欧洲的蜜蜂相比，它们对Varroa的抵抗力更高。但是，Varroa水平与非洲蜜蜂中蜜蜂病毒传播之间的关系仍然未知。在这项研究中，我们确定了来自哥伦比亚三个地区的非洲化蜜蜂中的Varroa患病率和侵染水平以及七种主要蜜蜂病毒的患病率。我们发现，尽管Varroa的患病率很高（92％），但考虑到这些人群从未接受过杀螨剂治疗，因此其患病率很低（4.6％）。我们还在所分析的三个区域中检测到了四种病毒，但所有荨麻疹均无症状，而且病毒的流行率明显低于其他国家（与螨相关的菌落丢失率更高的其他国家/地区）（DWV 19.88％，BQCV 17.39％，SBV 23.4％ ，ABPV为10.56％）。我们的发现表明，AHBs具有对Varroa的天然抗性，但不能阻止这种寄生虫在其种群中扩散，但可以抑制螨虫种群的生长并抑制与螨虫相关的病毒的流行和致病性。我们还在所分析的三个区域中检测到了四种病毒，但所有荨麻疹均无症状，而且病毒的流行率明显低于其他国家（与螨相关的菌落丢失率更高的其他国家/地区）（DWV 19.88％，BQCV 17.39％，SBV 23.4％ ，ABPV为10.56％）。我们的发现表明，AHBs具有对Varroa的天然抗性，但不能阻止这种寄生虫在其种群中扩散，但可以抑制螨虫种群的生长并抑制与螨虫相关的病毒的流行和致病性。我们还在所分析的三个区域中检测到了四种病毒，但是所有荨麻疹都没有症状，而且病毒的流行率明显低于其他国家（与螨相关的菌落丢失率更高的其他国家/地区）（DWV 19.88％，BQCV 17.39％，SBV 23.4％ ，ABPV为10.56％）。我们的发现表明，AHBs具有对Varroa的天然抗性，但不能阻止这种寄生虫在其种群中扩散，但可以抑制螨虫种群的生长并抑制与螨虫相关的病毒的流行和致病性。