Official Pest Report

Official Pest Reports are provided by National Plant Protection Organizations within the NAPPO region. These Pest Reports are intended to comply with the International Plant Protection Convention's Standard on Pest Reporting, endorsed by the Interim Commission on Phytosanitary Measures in March 2002.

APHIS Expands the Citrus Greening (Huanglongbing) Quarantined Area in Arizona

Country: United States

Title:

APHIS Expands the Citrus Greening (Huanglongbing) Quarantined Area in Arizona

Contact:
Abby R. Stilwell, Agriculturist, at (919) 323-6296 or abby.r.stilwell@usda.gov

Report:

Effective immediately, the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), in cooperation with the Arizona Department of Agriculture (AZDA), is establishing an area quarantined for citrus greening (Huanglongbing; HLB), caused by Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, in Arizona. APHIS is establishing the quarantined area in the Nogales area of Santa Cruz County of approximately nine square miles. These measures parallel the intrastate quarantine that AZDA established on February 7, 2025. APHIS is taking this action because of confirmed citrus greening detections in plant tissue samples collected from residential properties in Santa Cruz County.

This is the first confirmation of citrus greening in plant tissue in Arizona. There is no commercial citrus impacted by this quarantine.

APHIS is applying safeguarding measures outlined in 7 CFR 301.76 and Federal Orders on the interstate movement of regulated articles from the quarantined areas in Arizona. This action is necessary to prevent the spread of citrus greening to non-infested areas of the United States.

The APHIS Citrus Greening website contains specific changes to the quarantined areas in Arizona. APHIS will publish a notice of this change in the Federal Register.

Under IPPC Standards, 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus' the agent that causes citrus greening is a pest that is present: not widely distributed and under official control  in the United States.

Posted Date: Feb. 12, 2026, 3:43 p.m.