The wheat streak mosaic virus appears to have had little impact on this season's Queensland wheat crop.

Queensland Department of Primary Industries program leader Ian Titmarsh said there had been no recent detections of wheat streak mosaic virus, with the tally remaining at two on DPI research facilities and two on farms.

Dr Titmarsh said the detection process involved a survey of 116 sites in Central and Southern Queensland soon after the discovery of the disease in early May, with another 200 samples having been tested in recent months.

He said the low detected incidence of wheat streak mosaic virus, with its potential to cause yield losses, was good news for the industry, although it was possible the disease could be more significant in future seasons, depending on conditions and its actual spread.

Farmers, consultants and DPI staff should remain vigilant for signs of the disease and consider recommending or implementing disease management strategies if found.

He said when the virus was believed to be contained to the two DPI research facilities and was not on farms some changes were made to the location of this season's wheat breeding trials.

With the virus since having been found on two farms without connection to the two research facilities, future farm testing of new material by the DPI wheat breeding team would still be conducted in a way that minimised the risk of spreading the virus.

Dr Titmarsh said wheat streak virus was first found in Queensland at the Leslie Research Centre in Toowoomba in early-May following a national quarantine alert, and then at the Wellcamp Research Station on the western outskirts of the city.

The first farm detection was in late-July, followed by another on a nearby property.

He said as the two farms had no connection to the two research facilities, future farm testing of new material by the DPI wheat breeding team would not carry any undue risk of spreading the virus.

Dr Titmarsh said that nationally wheat streak mosaic was now considered in the same light as any other endemic plant disease, with a management program the key to its control.

The management program included attention to farm hygiene off-season, particularly by destroying volunteer cereal plants that could host leaf curl mites that spread the disease.

Wheat streak mosaic virus symptoms include a pattern of leaf streaking that may cause the death of infected leaves or whole plants.

Information on wheat streak mosaic virus is available from the DPI Call Centre (13 25 23) or the DPI website.