Trees are not killed but infected fruit are unmarketable because of spots and ring blemishes. Fruit may also drop prematurely from the tree. Normal movement of people and equipment from infested orchards is not thought to play a role in the spread of the disease. More details on the biology of the disease are included in the APS Compendium of Stone Fruit Diseases by a British Plant Pathologist, A. N. Adams, and in other international sites . The strain of the virus present in Pennsylvania has been identified as the D strain.
Control is by use of virus free plants, and aphid control.
The latter approach, used in Europe will need to be critically evaluated in the mid-Atlantic region if aphids are less likely to be vectors than in the Old World. Further work will therefore be needed on the prospects of management by vector control. Brunt et al. Of the main aphid vectors , the green peach aphid is a common pest of peach in our region. Spirea aphid , has become more prominent on apple and citrus in recent years, almost totally displacing apple aphid on apple, and colonizes peach as well.