Fiji disease virus

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Fiji disease virus
Virus classification
(unranked):	Virus
Realm:	Riboviria
Kingdom:	Orthornavirae
Phylum:	Duplornaviricota
Class:	Resentoviricetes
Order:	Reovirales
Family:	Sedoreoviridae
Genus:	Fijivirus
Species:	Fiji disease virus

Fiji disease virus (FDV) belongs to the reoviridae family and infects plants. It is one of the few plant viruses in the Reoviridae family. The type species of the genus Fijivirus, it is the only known member of Fijivirus group 1.

Fiji disease virus is named after the country in which it was originally observed. The earliest recording of FDV is from 1886 in a commercial farming spread of infection. By 1906, FDV had spread throughout the islands in the Pacific Ocean, posing a major threat to the sugar industry in the region. A major outbreak occurred in the 1950s when two varieties of sugar cane were planted that presented a high susceptibility to the virus. Although it was not discovered in New Guinea until 1914, it is considered to be the original location of FDV. FDV was most likely present in much of the Oceania region including Australia and the Philippines before its discovery in 1886.