A citrus disease that was killing orchards worldwide was headed toward California after being rooted in Mexico, it was reported on Tuesday.
The disease is threatening California's 1.6-billion-dollar citrus industry, the Los Angeles Times said.
Citrus greening disease has infected six citrus trees on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, spread by an infestation of the Asian citrus psyllid, according to the paper.
There's a virtual insect highway across the width of Mexico, and once the aphid-like insect hops on, California is in trouble, Beth Grafton-Cardwell, an entomologist at the University of California in Riverside, said in remarks published by the paper.
Mexico "is infested with the bug and they will gradually move the disease across the country," Grafton-Cardwell said. "This disease is a citrus grower's worst nightmare."
The disease doesn't affect humans, but it's lethal to citrus trees. It ruins the taste of fruit and juice before killing the plants, experts said, and there is no known way to rid a region of the pathogen once it has struck.
The disease has killed tens of thousands of acres of trees in Florida and threatens to put California out of the orange juice business, according to the state's Department of Citrus.
Since its discovery in Florida in 2005, the disease has quickly spread to every citrus-growing county in the state, contributing to the death of about 5 percent of its trees every year. It has wiped out much of the citrus industries in India, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and has ravaged parts of Brazil.
An alternative source of infection could come from a psyllid carrying the disease hitchhiking in from overseas and starting the disease in California, said experts.
U.S. and Mexican authorities are working together on solutions. In June, officials from the two countries as well as Belize met to discuss the severity of the infestations and ways to wipe to it out. They will meet again next month.