"We went out of the laboratory, into the field ?" real-life field tests," says Stamets. "And we saw enormous benefit to the bees." So what's going on here? Stamets says the operating hypothesis is this: "These aren't really antiviral drugs. We think they are supporting the immune system to allow natural immunity to be strong enough to reduce the viruses." More research, he says, is needed to fully understand how the fungi are working.