I've heard this several times, in fact I was opportuned to be present at a bee farming training where I was translating for a deaf participant, and I can vividly recollect one of the lecturers hammering why the "therapeutic effect" is a major reason why we should all practice bee farming. Well, I totally believe him until now.
However, with your conclusion on melittin, anything that potentially causes a problem for HIV is nice for me.
You've answered a great question here and I'm sure many people will love to know the real truth about the matter. Well done boss.
Most of the claims are largely unproven from my research. Experimental trials with rats tested positive but not with humans. I actually doubt the reproducibility of the rats experiment as well.