In South America, the disease is endemic to Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Suriname, French Guiana and Guyana.

RHBV is a single stranded, negative-sense RNA virus of the genus Tenuivirus, derived from the Latin "tenui", meaning thin or weak.

[2] Previous to 1982, RHBV was theorized to be a part of the Closterovirus group, due to the presence of 8-10 nanometer particles observed in the cells of plants affected by HBV.

However, further research into the subject yielded results indicating that RHBV was more similar to viruses in the newly formed Tenuivirus group.

[4] Examination of viral particles from infected plant cells indicates that they are sometimes configured in tight, heliocentric spiral formations.

Vertical transmission is possible transovarially from infected females to their offspring[8] and from males to their progeny, although RHBV is the only Tenuivirus known to be paternally transmitted.

Research shows that RHBV likely uses "cap-snatching", a technique where the virus cleaves and uses the 5' cap of the host cell, in order to begin synthesis of viral mRNA.

The NS3 protein encoded by RNA3 has been shown to suppress RNA silencing in both rice and insect vectors, contributing to the successful propagation of the virus.

Research shows that RNA3 interferes with the cell's siRNA's by binding to them, which in turn suppresses their ability to assist in RNA silencing.

RHBV infection is systemic to the plant, and subsequent leaves will emerge displaying either heavy stripes or complete chlorosis.

[17] RHBV was first described biologically in the 1980s, although it had been destroying rice crops in the Americas for almost half a century before scientists were able to understand it and identify it as a viral agent.

[18] Within approximately 3 decades, RHBV and the associated HBD were present in various South American countries and had crossed the Caribbean sea to Cuba and the southern Florida peninsula.

It has since been affecting rice crops in many countries located throughout both tropical and subtropical America, generating moderate to severe yield losses.