Our findings confirmed that MRSA infections in the community have been increasing in Asian countries. Data also suggest that various MRSA clones have spread between the community and hospitals as well as between countries.

Dendroctonus valens is an invasive pest in coniferous forests of northern China. It was suspected of being responsible for the death of more than three million Pinus tabuliformis trees. The present study sought to identify the ophiostomatoid fungi associated with D. valens in northern China and understand the possible role of these fungi in the pine decline. On the basis of morphology, physiology, mating compatibility and phylogenetic analyses of multiple DNA sequences, seven species of ophiostomatoid fungi were isolated from and around D. valens galleries: Leptographium alethinum, Grosmannia koreana (teleomorph of L. koreanum), L. procerum, L. sinoprocerum, L. truncatum, Pesotum aureum and P. pini. All have been recorded for the first time in China. Among them, the occurrence of the dominant species L. procerum is positively linked to attack intensities of D. valens. The pathogenicity of four species (L. koreanum, L. procerum, L. sinoprocerum and L. truncatum) was tested on mature P. tabuliformis trees by stem inoculation. All inoculated strains caused significant necrotic lesions on the inner bark. However, L. koreanum and L. truncatum induced more extensive lesions than L. procerum and L. sinoprocerum. Their association with D. valens and the P. tabuliformis decline is discussed.

SummaryChina has 12 taxa of white pines (subgenus Strobus), including species of wide distribution valuable to plantation forestry and species of rare endemics only distantly related to other white pines. The most important forest diseases of these white pines are caused by the blister rust fungi of the genus Cronartium that alternate to telial host species of Ribes and Pedicularis. The most serious infestations have occurred in southwestern China on Pinus armandii and in northeastern China on P. koraiensis. The blister rust pathogen on P. armandii has usually been identified as Cronartium ribicola. Several lines of evidence, however, imply this pathogen on P. armandii is different from a pathogen on P. koraiensis that appears more closely related to C. ribicola in North America, Europe, and other Asian countries. In China, C. ribicola is designated as a quarantine pest. Silvicultural control of blister rust relies on pruning and thinning infected trees, herbicide removal of telial hosts, and chemical treatment of blister rust cankers. Although plantation forestry is important in China, little information is available on the genetics of resistance in Chinese white pines to native blister rust fungi. Challenges and opportunities are identified in forest management and research for disease assessment and control, rust systematics and biology, and genetic interactions in the white pine blister rust pathosystem.