Brand New Day

rhamphotheca:

Chytridiomycosis

… an infectious disease of amphibians, caused by the chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, a non-hyphal zoosporic fungus. Chytridiomycosis has been linked to dramatic population declines or even extinctions of amphibian species in western North America, Central America, South America, eastern Australia, and Dominica and Montserrat in the Caribbean. The fungus is capable of causing sporadic deaths in some amphibian populations and 100% mortality in others. There is no effective measure for control of the disease in wild populations. The disease is contributing to a global decline in amphibian populations that apparently has affected 30% of the amphibian species of the world.

The oldest reports of infection of Batrachochytrium were from African clawed frogs of the genus Xenopus. Because Xenopus has been widely transported around the world, it is one potential vector for transmission of B. dendrobatidis. Other studies, however, suggest that B. dendrobatidis has been present in North and Central America for decades. It is still not clear if it is a new emergent pathogen or if it is an old pathogen with recently increased virulence… it may simply be that the fungus occurs naturally and was only identified recently because it has become more virulent or more prevalent in the environment, or because host populations have become less resistant to the disease…

(read more: Wikipedia)

(photo: infected Northern Red-legged Frog, R. aurora, by Forrest Brem)