 It is present in all peach- and nectarine-producing areas of the world including Europe, Asia, North America and South America and the frequency of naturally occurring infection is high.Before the development of symptoms the disease is latent in peach trees for approximately 5–7 years.The symptoms of the disease include necrosis of buds, delayed shoot development, necrotic branches, premature ageing of trees, flower streaking, ripening deformations, enlarged rounded stones, circular discoloured areas on the fruit skin and in some cases mosaic, blotch, vein banding or calico appearance on infected leaves.