[3] It is part of a class of similar disease known as "white syndromes", many of which may be linked to species of Vibrio bacteria.
[5] However, substantial samples of rickettsiales have been present in the surface layer, which causes scientists to suspect that this bacteria may be one of the factors of the disease.
[13] Coral reefs are also home to more than twenty-five percent of all marine fish species, making them extremely biologically diverse.
[13] The loss of this coral would be particularly damaging to people living on the coast in terms of the food supply, coastal protection, economic security and more.
[14] Upon decomposing, Elkhorn coral releases its sequestered carbon dioxide back into the ocean, heating it and contributing to acidification.
[6] However, white band disease has also been sighted in the Red Sea, and the Indo-Pacific region, including the Philippines, the Great Barrier Reef, and Indonesia.
[15] Unlike white band disease in the Caribbean region, white band disease in the Indo-Pacific region has been found on approximately 34 species of massive, branching and plating corals instead of just simply Elkhorn and Staghorn corals.
[10] However, the potential for injury among the affected corals tends to be high given the many ways tissue injury may occur naturally including competition by other corals, mechanical damage, or corallivory by snails, damselfish, butterflyfish, fireworms, or other such aquatic organisms.
[10] Waterborne transmission of white band disease may prove difficult to manage however, given the flowing nature of ocean currents.
[10] It is more active in summer and less prominent in winter, suggesting that warmer water temperatures contribute to the waterborne spread of the disease to affected corals.
Over the next few decades as climate change continues, oceanic warming and acidification will accelerate and further damage the fragile reef ecosystems.
[14] Prediction of the impacts of future climate change on coral reefs can be difficult given the uncertainty in certain involved socioeconomic factors (i.e. political response, future technology, changes in human behavior, the Earth's climate system, and the realtime effects on coral reefs).
[14] Despite these uncertainties, humans could see the extinction of the coral reef ecosystem by the end of the 21st century if actions are not taken to protect them.