Immunity & resistance in the bee world

摘要

Humans are immune to a number of bugs, either through long-time exposure or by vaccination. Antibodies (developed through either exposure or vaccination) protect us from being overcome by a disease. The introduction of new diseases into the indigenouspopulations of the New World by disease-carrying Europeans decimated native populations - some historians make a good argument that these diseases changed the course of history (just as Varroa has changed the history of beekeeping). With time, the natives developed requisite antibodies and their populations rebounded. Visitors to Mexico (and some other countries) often get sick if they drink the local water but this same water has no effect on the local population because they have built up an immunity (or at the very least a high degree of resistance) to the bugs in the water through generations of exposure.