State and federal officials have confirmed so-called citrus greening disease in Alabama for the first time ever, according to a release from the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries (ADAI).

The disease, also called Huanglongbing or HLB, caused a 75 percent decline in Florida's $9 billion citrus industry, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which has spent $400 million to combat the disease. 

Officials in Alabama confirmed citrus greening in leaf and insect samples taken from a property on Dauphin Island in Mobile County this week and will conduct a thorough delimiting survey beginning on June 26 to determine the extent of the spread of the disease.  

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