where have all the bees gone?

I had heard there was a problem of dying bees. But that was from an American and I thought that this island hadn't been - and might not be - affected because the hum of the multitudes of flying pollinators was so loud behind my house. This year, when I asked my neighbor if he was selling pollen as usual, he said there had been a very bad year, 'slabo', and he didn't have much. And my local friend, who showed me how to use an extractor one day when I stopped by to see his wife and fresh baby, said they'd lost more than 30% of their bees this winter. The world does come to paradise...
So I decided to do a little research and found that it is a world-wide problem and that some scientists think the bees' immune system has been compromised. When tested, they carry every virus plus a few fungi that bee people know about. There is some evidence that they lose their orientation and can't find their way back to the hive. Who would think that intricate navigation instinct could be twisted? I don't want to get morbid, which is soft in Italian, but without bees the whole revolving system of plants and people is rather tilted.