infect. Control of banana bunchy top is achieved by killing the banana aphids then destroying all infected material. First, the aphids should be killed on the infected banana material, and then all the plant material should be destroyed to prevent the spread of the virus. Infected banana plants can be sprayed with an insecticide like Sevin to reduce or get rid of the aphid population, since control of viruses starts with control of the vectors. The agriculture department, however, recently obtained an EPA waiver for the pesticide Provado is a means of controlling the aphids that spread the disease. Importance Banana bunchy top disease is the most serious virus disease of banana worldwide. Diseased plants rarely produce fruit and when they do, the fruit is stunted and twisted. However, in the rare scenario that a diseased plant does produce fruit that reaches maturity, it is edible. The banana bunchy top disease has had a huge impact on the banana industry in Hawaii and Australia and among other areas of the world. The disease was first seen on the Hawaiian island of Oahu in 1989 and by 2002, only 13 years later, it was a major disease on four of the Hawaiian islands (Hawaii, Oahu, Kauai and Maui). The movement of BBTD was mostly facilitated by human movement of diseased plant material and banana aphids from island to island. In the 1920s it almost completely destroyed the banana growing industry in Australia. While BBTV certainly has a huge impact on the industrial scale of banana production, it can also be devastating to subsistence farmers who depend on their crop to feed their families and provide income. Small farmers will often lose the uphill battle of fighting against BBTV in their crop. Once established, it is very difficult to eradicate and manage the disease. The difficulty of eradication is perpetuated by a number of reasons. First of all, the disease is caused by a vector-transmitted virus and this virus is not completely understood yet. Secondly, all bananas are susceptible to the disease and no resistant varieties have been discovered or made commercially available. Lastly, the control methods are quite demanding, including chemical treatment for the aphid vectors, removal of all infected tissue (aka roguing), quarantining plants and monitoring alternate vector feeding sites. References http://www.galegroup.com http://www.ebi.ac.uk http://archives.starbulletin.com/2004/04/24/news/story7.html http://archives.starbulletin.com/2004/05/01/news/story5.html External links ICTVdB - The Universal Virus Database: Banana bunchy top virus Family Groups -