Argentine agency detects seven positive cases of HLB in the province of Misiones

The National Service of Plant Health and Food Quality (Senasa) of Argentina has confirmed seven cases of Greening (Huanglongbing/HLB) in the border with Brazil. Three commercial plantations and four residential plantations in an urban zone were tested and resulted positive in the locations of Iguazú and Eldorado in the Misiones province, which borders with the Brazilian state of Paraná.

The cases of Greening were detected in actions of phytosanitary surveillance and confirmed by a laboratory analysis. The Senasa is under the Ministry of Agriculture in Argentina, which already done the destruction of contaminated plants. The agency promises to continue with enforcement actions.

The greening has arrived in Brazil in 2004 and it is the most destructive disease for the citrus in the country, being presented in the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Paraná. It is caused by the bacterias Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus and Candidatus Liberibacter americanus, which are transmitted for the plants by the psyllid Diaphorina citri - both found in the false-myrtle ornamental (Murraya spp.).