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Global Chocolate Supply Impacted By Cacao Tree-Killing Virus. 'Newsweek' reports that the price of chocolate may be increasing after a virus ravaged cacao trees in western Africa - significantly in Ghana. According to a new study published in the journal 'PLoS ONE,' between 15% and 50% of the harvest of cocoa trees in Ghana has been lost due to cacao swollen shoot virus disease (CSSSVD). Small insects called mealybugs are responsible for spreading the virus between trees, causing a number of problems including leaf discoloration and distorted growth. So far, over 250 million cacao trees have already been killed by the virus. "This virus is a real threat to the global supply of chocolate." 'Newsweek' reports that the virus has proven to be hard to prevent since mealybug vectors are extremely hard to control by conventional means. "Pesticides don't work well against mealybugs, leaving farmers to try to prevent the spread of the disease by cutting out infected trees and breeding resistant trees. But despite these efforts, Ghana has lost more than 254 million cacao trees in recent years." Researchers believe that the distance between trees could prevent the mealybugs from spreading the disease from tree to tree. "Mealybugs have several ways of movement, including moving from canopy to canopy, being carried by ants or blown by the wind." "What we needed to do was create a model for cacao growers so they could know how far away they could safely plant vaccinated trees from unvaccinated trees in order to prevent the spread of the virus while keeping costs manageable for these small farmers.", Benito Chen-Charpentier, Study co-author and a professor of mathematics at The University of Texas at Arlington, via ‘Newsweek’. THIS VIDEO MUST NOT BE EDITED FOR LENGTH TO COMBINE WITH OTHER CONTENT