Bummer, there had been several false reports of RRV in the Houston Metro Area over the years, but testing had always confirmed it to be herbicide damage instead. It had been theorized the prevaling Gulf Winds were keeping the mite from making it down there but I guess not.

Wow, right in my area! Thanks for posting.

That blows the "no RRD south of I-20" way out of the water. And those occurrences are probably eighteen miles apart, so there's a lot to worry about there.

Wow, that is terrible. You would think that there should be a cure for RRD by now.

About how RRD got transmitted. I have always thought that it transmits by mites moving from plant to plant. Do we know whether it can be transited by birds or by seeds. Last week, I found a multifloria seedling at the feet our my Laguna. The only reason I can think of why it is there is by way of bird dropping. That seedling looks like that it has RRD, although I do not know enough about RRD to be absolutely sure of it. I disposed off the thing as quickly as I could. If bird can help transmit the disease either by carrying the mite or by droppings, my garden will be doomed. Wild multiflora with RRD is a common sight here....

farmerduck the mites are blown in the wind until something like a house, shrub or tree knocks them out of the air. If they are lucky enough to land on a rose bush they tend to crawl (very slowly) towards tender new growth where they prefer to feed. I have actually never had the mites move to another close rose.

There have been tests about seed transmission...taking seeds from infected multiflora and growing them out and none were found to transmit RRD. But negatives can't be proven.
A similar virus with far more catastrophic economic ramifications affected/infected corn and wheat on the Great Plains. Several thousand seeds were grown out to see if that mite transmitted virus was also seed transmitted and the incidence was several plants out of thousands....and that was an open field test so it was possible that those were mite transmitted. Nobody has the growing conditions to test thousands of plants in isolation.

Bird or insects are possible assists to the eriophyid mites. If the mites were visible to the naked eye.....but they aren't. And combing a live birds feathers to see what might be hitching a ride, likewise grasshoppers katydids.....

"A cure by now".....viruses aren't that easy to cure.

Last year H.R.2943 was proposed:

This bill prohibits the Department of Agriculture from using funds for
grants or cooperative agreements for research on the prevention of rose
rosette disease.