Editing Varroa destructor (section)

== Virus transmission ==
[[File:Deformed wing virus.png|thumb|Healthy nurse bee (top) and infected bee with deformed wing virus (DWV) (bottom)]]

Open wounds left by the feeding become sites for disease and virus infections. The mites are vectors for at least five and possibly up to 18 debilitating bee viruses,<ref name="vanEngelsdorp 1792–1801"/> including [[RNA virus]]es such as the [[deformed wing virus]].

Prior to the widespread introduction of Varroa mite, honey bee viruses were typically considered a minor issue. Virus particles are directly injected into the bee's body cavity and mites can also cause immunosuppression that increases infection in host bees. Varroa mites can transmit the following viruses:<ref name="Rosenkranz"/>
*[[Kashmir bee virus]]
*[[Sacbrood virus]]
*[[Acute bee paralysis virus]]
*[[Israeli acute paralysis virus]]
*[[Deformed wing virus]]

Deformed wing virus is one of the most prominent and damaging honey bee viruses transmitted by Varroa mites. It causes crumpled deformed wings that resemble sticks and also causes shortened abdomens.<ref name="Rosenkranz"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Varroosis : USDA ARS |url=https://www.ars.usda.gov/pacific-west-area/tucson-az/carl-hayden-bee-research-center/research/varroa/varroosis/ |website=www.ars.usda.gov |access-date=27 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312130537/https://www.ars.usda.gov/pacific-west-area/tucson-az/carl-hayden-bee-research-center/research/varroa/varroosis/|archive-date=March 12, 2023}}</ref>

=== Colony collapse disorder ===
{{further|Colony collapse disorder}}
There is some evidence that harm from both Varroa mite and associated viruses they transmit may be a contributing factor that leads to [[colony collapse disorder]] (CCD).<ref name="Zakar2014"/> While the exact causes of CCD are not known, infection of colonies from multiple pathogens and interaction of those pathogens with environmental stresses is considered by entomologists to be one of the likely causes of CCD.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Potts |first1=Simon G. |last2=Biesmeijer |first2=Jacobus C. |last3=Kremen |first3=Claire |last4=Neumann |first4=Peter |last5=Schweiger |first5=Oliver |last6=Kunin |first6=William E. |title=Global pollinator declines: trends, impacts and drivers |journal=Trends in Ecology & Evolution |date=June 2010 |volume=25 |issue=6 |pages=345–353 |doi=10.1016/j.tree.2010.01.007|pmid=20188434 |bibcode=2010TEcoE..25..345P }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Watanabe |first1=Myrna E. |title=Colony Collapse Disorder: Many Suspects, No Smoking Gun |journal=BioScience |date=1 May 2008 |volume=58 |issue=5 |pages=384–388 |doi=10.1641/B580503|s2cid=85798698 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Most scientists agree there is not a single cause of CCD.<ref name="LeConte">{{cite journal |last1=Le Conte |first1=Yves |last2=Ellis |first2=Marion |last3=Ritter |first3=Wolfgang |title=Varroa mites and honey bee health: can Varroa explain part of the colony losses? |journal=Apidologie |date=May 2010 |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages=353–363 |doi=10.1051/apido/2010017|doi-access=free }}</ref>