[1] Like many viruses, BBTV was named after the symptoms seen, where the infected plants are stunted and have "bunchy" leaves at the top.

There are no resistant varieties, so controlling the spread by vectors and plant materials are the only management methods.

[1] The aphids also feed on Heliconia and flowering ginger, which are grown in the same regions as bananas and must be considered in management of the disease.

The name of the disease comes from the symptom which occurs in older plants, in which the new leaves that are produced are narrower than normal, yellow, and flat, which causes a "bunchy" appearance at the top of the tree.

[2] In addition, one of the most distinctive symptoms is "Morse code streaking"[2] where the infected cells die and are lighter in color, causing irregular spots and dashes on the leaves that are easier to see when the waxy coating over the petiole is rubbed away.

[citation needed] BBTV is a widespread disease in the tropics, and is present in Southeast Asia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Oceania[3] including most of the South Pacific islands and Hawaii,[3] Pakistan (first found 1988, first identified 1991 or 1992),[5] East Asia,[3] parts of India,[2] and is invading Africa as of 2021[update].

[7] BBTV is spread to new areas by poor agricultural practices, and can be transmitted on plant material from the family Musaceae, the virus' host.

[4] The genome of BBTV is made up of at least six circular, single-stranded DNA components, each about 1 kilo-base pair in length.

[8] It is known that Banana aphid (Pentalonia nigronervosa) transmits the virus from infected to healthy plants by feeding.

[2] The retransmission of this virus can happen after as little as two hours of feeding on a healthy plant however it takes about a month for the BBTV symptoms to appear after infection.

[2] The ability of banana aphids to feed on alternate hosts is important to keep in mind when attempting to control the virus.

[2] Currently, there is ongoing research into biopriming, or inducing systemic resistance by using bacteria that live inside the host but do not infect.

[2] The agriculture department, however, recently obtained an EPA waiver for the pesticide Provado is a means of controlling the aphids that spread the disease.

[11] While BBTV certainly has a huge impact on the industrial scale of banana production, it can also be devastating to subsistence farmers who depend on their crop to feed their families and provide income.