Only occurs in West Africa. Major problem in Togo, Ghana, Cote d'Ivorie and Nigeria; transmitted by mealybugs. The Swollen Shoot Virus is not native to cocoa but jumped into the cocoa from trees that grew in the rain forests of W. Africa ("e.g. Cola chlamydantha, Ceiba pentandra, Adansonia digitata, Cola gigantea" and "Sterculia tragacantha"). The virus is a badnavirus within the family Caulimoviridae. Eradication of infected trees has been the most widely used means of control. In Ghana, between 2006 and 2010, over 28 million trees were removed for being visibly infected or for being in contact with infected trees. This serves to remove the source of inoculum to prevent spread of the virus; however the method has not succeeded to significantly control the disease. Since there are alternative host species that could also serve as inoculum, their removal has been advised too. Although it has been suggested the importance of alternative hosts in cacao re-infection is not that great compared to cacao-cacao infection, it is still advised by Dzahini-Obiatey "et al." that alternative hosts, such as "Cola gigantea", be removed from newly planted fields.