Panama disease new, already infected plant is fairly high. Finally, the disease is known to infect certain weeds without showing symptoms, meaning it can survive in the absence of banana plants and remain undetected in a place where bananas are planted later. FOC is thought to persist only asexually, as a teleomorph or sexual phase has not been found and no recombinant genotypes have been observed. This means that the survival and dispersal of the disease relies on purely asexual spores and structures. The disease survives in chlamydospores which are produced as the plant dies and can survive in the soil for
Health measures during the construction of the Panama Canal had died during the construction of the Panama Railway and over 22,000 during the French effort to build a canal. Many of these deaths were due to disease, particularly yellow fever and malaria. At several times, construction on the Panama Railway had actually halted due to the lack of healthy workers. The high rate of deaths among workers on the Panama Canal due to disease was the source of a great deal of controversy in the United States. Newspapers, such as "The Independent", frequently reported on the poor conditions workers in the Canal Zone experienced, including the rampant disease. Poultney