• Restricted distribution. Asia (India, China), Africa (Mauritus), Oceania (Guam). The strain of bacterial wilt (BW), Ralstonia solanacearum is biovar 3, or phylotype 1 (Asia).
• Ironwood tree decline (IWTD) a serious disease associated with bacterial wilt and/or the rot-causing fungus, Ganoderma australe. Additionally, the termite, Nasutitermes takasagoensis, is often present.
• Thinning foliage, branch-tip dieback on trees from 10 years. Cut trunks show wetwood symptoms: dark staining with droplets of BW and wetwood bacteria at margins. Many have Ganoderma fruit bodies.
• Spread: bacterial wilt, movement of water; Ganoderma, root-to-root contact.
• Biosecurity: Countries free from BW should: (i) define the risk and pathways; (ii) put preventive measures in place; (iii) enact quarantine protocols should a breach occur; and (iv) develop an eradication plan.
• Biocontrol: none.
• Cultural control: (i) before planting: use soil-less composts/pasteurised soil to raise seedlings; avoid planting in soils with poor drainage; (ii) during growth: add organic amendments/mulches; remove trees with IWTD or damaged by storms; prune to remove deadwood; sanitise tools between working on trees; avoid damage from lawnmowers or weed trimmers; increase genetic diversity.
• Chemical control: Not an appropriate method.

Ironwood tree decline (IWTD). On Guam, it is also known as IWTD disease syndrome; this is to suggest that IWTD results from more than one cause acting together. 

A disease associated with two pathogens, bacterial wilt, Ralstonia solanacearum, and Ganoderma australe; the involvement of the termite, Nasutitermes takasagoensis, was also considered to be involved in spreading the disease, but now this is thought unlikely.

Under a revised classification system (2005), and based on DNA sequencing, Ralstonia solanacearum has been divided into four groups, reflecting geography (phylotypes), and further by genetic sequence of an important gene (sequevars). By this method the strain of Ralstonia solanacearum infecting Casuarina in Guam is phylotype 1 (Asia). It is equivalent to biovar 3 on the system that separates strains on their use of certain carbohydrates.