Plum pox virus and the estimated costs associated with sharka disease

Since first being recorded in 1917–18 in Bulgaria, sharka (plum pox) disease has progressively spread via infected plant material to be present in most Prunus ‐growing nations today. The disease has serious agronomic and political consequences because it causes enormous economic losses. In countries in which sharka is endemic, a high percentage of apricot and European plum production is unmarketable because of the disease. To these figures should be added the costs of sanitary controls, surveys and eradication programmes against sharka virus. Estimated costs associated with sharka management worldwide in the last 30 years exceed 10 000 million euros. However, improvements in knowledge of the disease and in techniques used to identify the disease are significantly aiding disease control and management.