Mini saunas save endangered frogs from fungal disease (2024)

NEWS AND VIEWS
26 June 2024

Amphibian species around the world are threatened with extinction by the deadly fungal disease chytridiomycosis. A simple, low-cost solution to provide warm conditions enables frogs to clear the infection and remain disease free.

Brian Gratwicke⁰ &
Anna Savage¹

Brian Gratwicke
1. Brian Gratwicke is at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, Front Royal, Virginia 22630, USA.
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Anna Savage
1. Anna Savage is in the Department of Biology, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32816, USA.
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At the 1989 World Congress of Herpetology in Canterbury, UK, scientists began discussing amphibian declines that were happening around the globe, but the cause of these enigmatic declines was unknown. A decade later, the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) was described and identified as the pathogen responsible for the deaths of frogs in Australia and in Latin America¹^,². Subsequently, many other mysterious amphibian disappearances were attributed to chytridiomycosis, the disease caused by this pathogen. As amphibians have continued to disappear, zoos and aquariums around the world have created captive colonies of imperilled amphibians to provide backup for these species and buy time until a solution is found. Writing in Nature, Waddle et al.³ point to a way to tackle this problem.

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References

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Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Read the paper: Hotspot shelters stimulate frog resistance to chytridiomycosis
In peril from a perfect pathogen
Bleak future for amphibians

Subjects

Conservation biology
Infection
Ecology

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