Year End Report on Plant Diseases

The International Society for Infectious Diseases runs the ProMED program, which sends out notifications of global plant diseases throughout the year.  For the year 2007, there were 208 posts.  Eight of these were for new pathogens, such as tomato marchitez virus or tomato torrado virus.  Ten posts were for new strains of known pathogens, such as downy mildew in cucurbits and potato scab.

There were 33 posts for first country reports of known pathogens.  For example, black pod of cocoa was found in Puerto Rico and orange rust has been found in Florida sugarcane.  Other highlights of the year include:

• A more virulent strain of wheat stem rust in Kenya
• Asian soybean rust found in Ghana, Congo, and Canada
• Sugarcane smut in all sugarcane producing areas of Australia within 18 months of introduction
• Banana bunchy-top virus re-emerging in Hawaii
• Multiple new strains of potato late blight in many countries
• A breakdown of resistance to lethal yellowing in Malayan Dwarf coconut hybrids
• Citrus canker and greening spread in Florida

As you can see, there is no dearth of subjects for plant pathologists or Doctors of Plant Medicine.  If you need funding for your program for these or other topics, please contact the PIO.  (ProMED-mail of 12/31/07).