First report of citrus greening disease in Papua New Guinea
An outbreak of citrus greening disease (or yellow dragon disease) was detected in Papua New Guinea. This disease already causes serious damage to citrus production in countries of South-East Asia. It is caused by an unculturable Gram-negative, phloem-limited bacteria-like organism, transmitted by psyllids (Diaphorina citri and Trioza erytrea). Two species, Liberobacter asiaticum and L. africanum (both on EPPO A1 list), cause the disease in Asia and Africa respectively. The disease was previously detected in the Indonesian part of Papua in 1999, and in East Timor in 2000.
Sources
Web site of department of agriculture, fisheries and forestry of Australia. News release 2002-11-21 "AQIS keeps weather eye on citrus industry's 'Yellow Dragon' in PNG" and fact sheet: http://www.affa.gov.au/ministers/truss/releases/02/02326wt.html
Promed mail 2002-11-27 Liberobacter, citrus greening - Papua New Guinea