Dangerous Wheat-Killing Fungus Detected in Iran
From the UN News Centre (5 Mar 2008)
“A dangerous new fungus with the ability to destroy entire wheat fields has been detected in Iran, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported today.
The wheat stem rust, whose spores are carried by wind across continents, was previously found in East Africa and Yemen and has moved to Iran, which said that laboratory tests have confirmed its presence in some localities in Broujerd and Hamedan in the country’s west.
Up to 80 per cent of all Asian and African wheat varieties are susceptible to the fungus . . .”
In the United States:
Ug99 and Emerging Virulent Stem Rust Race
Press Release from the USDA Agricultural Research Service
About wheat stem rust from the American Phytopathological Society: