MiteZapper; Anybody ever hear of this

[bee-nuts]

I found research information on an instrument called a MiteZapper.  Apparently the brood can handle higher temps than the mite brood.  Research claims major mite reduction.

I was going to leave a link but Im not allowed because Im a new bee.  However, if you google mitezapper you should find info

Has anybody heard of this thing?  Its a first for me.

[RayMarler]

I've not heard of a mite zapper, but I've read research indicating varroa does prefer cooler temps than worker brood. Drone brood is more commonly up to 2 degrees cooler than worker brood so is one reason varroa prefer drone brood over worker brood, as well as the longer time as pupa in drones vs. workers.

[bee-nuts]

Well I see there have been over 40 views of this but nobody reports any knowledge of it so I will give ya all some.

This is from an old article (2001).  Apparently this has been under development for along time.
 
The Mitezapper combines mite biology
with simple physics. A drone comb with
heating elements embedded in its “foundation”
(the base from which worker build
their wax cells), instead of a regular drone
comb, can be placed into the colony. After
the drone cells are scaled, one can simply
go to the hive, connect the two terminals
outside the hive for l-5 minutes and the
treatment is done! Electricity going
through the heating element will produce
heat and kill both the drone pupae and the
mites. Bees will open capped brood cells
and remove dead or dying brood
(Boecking et al 1993, Spivak 1996).
Therefore, the drone comb is ready for the
queen to lay eggs again after 3-5 days. The
main improvement of this method compared
to the traditional drone trapping
method is that one does not have to open
the colony a second time, nor does the
drone comb require further handling
(being frozen, or uncapped). The “treatment”
(applying heat through electricity)
can be done multiple times and has a large
time window (about I4 days during which
the drone cells remain sealed). It is also
possible to engineer the Miterapper to
have the heating shut off at 44°C. at that
temperature mites die, but drone bees are
unharmed (Br0dsgaard and Hansen 1994).

Someone has bought the rights and is apparently putting this on the market this year.  They have a website under construction. 

If you could have one of these things programed to do the job every 14 days or whatever with a d cell battery for power and it works as well as the articles I have read, It sounds like a real step forward.  If you search for this on google make sure you search mitezapper not mite zapper.

[Robo]

Here is an article from ABJ.