Blight
Blight is a rapid and complete chlorosis, browning, then death of plant tissues such as leaves, branches, twigs, or floral organs. Accordingly, many diseases that primarily exhibit this symptom are called blights. Several notable examples are:
Great French Wine Blight
The first known documented instance of an attack by the "Phylloxera" in France was in the village of Pujaut in the department of Gard of the former province of Languedoc, in 1863. The wine makers there did not notice the aphids, just as the French colonists in America had not, but they noted the mysterious blight that was damaging their vines. The only description of the disease that was given by these wine growers was that it 'reminded them distressingly of "consumption"' (tuberculosis). The blight quickly spread throughout France, but it was several years before the cause of the disease was determined.
Over 40% of French grape vines and vineyards were devastated over a 15-year period, from the late 1850s to the mid-1870s. The French economy was badly hit by the blight; many businesses were lost, and wages in the wine industry were cut to less than half. There was also a noticeable trend of migration to, among other places, Algiers and America. The production of cheap raisins and sugar wines caused problems for the domestic industry that threatened to persist even after the blight itself. The damage to the French economy is estimated to have been slightly over 10 billion Francs.