This is from the Missouri Dept of Conservation:
(edit: this quote is referring to control of multiflora rose--not control of RRD. RRD was supposed to be the solution, but instead, the unintended consequences of its use are now perhaps a bigger problem.)
"No effective biological controls that are currently considered feasible in natural communities are known. Rose rosette disease (RRD) is a fatal disease of multiflora rose and some cultivated roses, first described in the 1940s. The disease is caused by a virus-like particle transmitted by an eriophyid mite (Phyllocoptes fructiphilus K.). During past drought years, mite populations built up and RRD spread through much of the Midwest. The disease kills infected roses within two to three years and has already reduced weed populations in some areas. Pruning of multiflora rose will encourage succulent growth, which is more susceptible to mite infestation. Pruning may be practical in areas where RRD is present to encourage the spread of the disease. However, RRD may also infect native roses and plums, as well as commercially important plants in the rose family such as apples, some types of berries, and ornamental roses
The rose seed chalid (Megastigmus aculeastus var. nigroflavus), a small wasp-like insect also imported from Japan, attacks developing seed of several rose species. By destroying large amounts of seed, the chalid limits new infestations. Research on the impact on cultivated roses along with studies on environmental limitations are currently being conducted. Both RRD and the rose seed chalid have been documented in Missouri, but not in all counties. Once more is known about the biology of these two control agents, RRD and the rose seed chalid could provide effective control of multiflora rose in areas where other methods are not feasible or are undesirable.
Multiflora rose
Starting more than a century ago, this nonnative rose was planted across America--for many good reasons--but it has proven to be invasive, and now the goal is to stop its spread."
Kansas and Oklahoma have similar documents on extension websites. Most of the farmland in the midwest used multiflora rose, and now, this is where the RRD problem is the greatest.
RRD is rampant in my garden. I take out, on average, 3 roses every week. Commercial plantings in our area are so heavily infested with RRD that most are replacing all roses with potentilla and other hardy shrubs.
I wouldn't 'call RRD a new virus, just one that is now getting noticed nationwide.
It's not nearly as big a mistake as the intentional release of kudzu was....
