In March 2007, researchers at the Ethiopian Sugarcane Research Services Station observed an unrecorded disease in fields of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) variety DB377/60. Symptoms presented as brown leaf streaks on affected cane in three out of eight fields grown with variety DB377/60. Upon morphological analysis, the fungal characteristics fit the description of Puccinia melanocephala. This is thought to be the first confirmed record of Puccinia melanocephala infecting Saccharum officinarum in Ethiopia, although it has been reported from 15 other African countries.