A potyvirus was involved in the banana bract mosaïc disease in the Philippines. Its characterization went on to develop detection tools in order to control the disease. Specific monoclonal antibodies were obtained from the Philippines isolate and consistently reacted with a 30Kd protein. A direct Tissue Blot Immunoprinting Assay was also etablished to make easier the field detection. The disease was experimentally transmitted from the Philippines isolate to healthy banana plants using Pentalonia nigronervosa. These infected plants were considered as a viral reference of the disease. A molecular characterization of the 3' region of the Red viral genome was developed on amplified DNA fragments using potyvirus specific degenerated primers and reverse transcriptase PCR amplification