Latent infection of pine wilt disease

The latent infection was defined as a state of disease without evident symptoms, in which the carrier harbors the disease agent because of the host resistance and unsuitable environment. Pine wilt disease is an important pine epidemic disease worldwide, and it is also the most serious forest disease in China. The latent infection of pine wood nematodes is prevalent in epidemic area of pine wilt disease. Until now, the mechanism of latent infection is still unclear and it brings some difficulty to prevent and control of pine wilt disease. Due to the asymptomatic carriers are easily recognized as health trees and retained during the infection tree cutting process, and attract vector insects to feed and lay eggs as a source of pathogen to cause the spread of pine wilt disease once again. Therefore, we should pay more attention on the mechanism, epidemiology, and rapidly identification of latent infection to put forward effective prevention and control strategies of pine wilt disease.