Survival of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in Water: Quarantine and Disease Control Implications

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Emerg Infect Dis
• Personal Author:
  Johnson, Megan L. ; Speare, Richard
• Description:
  Amphibian chytridiomycosis is an emerging infectious disease of amphibians thought to be moved between countries by trade in infected amphibians. The causative fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, produces aquatic, motile zoospores; infections have been achieved in experiments by exposing amphibians to water containing zoospores. However, the ability of this fungus to survive in the environment in the absence of an amphibian host is unknown. We show that B. dendrobatidis will survive in tap water and in deionized water for 3 and 4 weeks, respectively. In lake water, infectivity was observed for 7 weeks after introduction. The knowledge that water can remain infective for up to 7 weeks is important for the formulation of disease control and quarantine strategies for the management of water that has been in contact with amphibians.
• Subjects:
  Amphibian Disease Amphibians Animals Batrachochytrium Dendrobatidis Chytridiomycosis Chytridiomycota Communicable Diseases, Emerging Mycoses Research Water Microbiology
• Source:
  Emerg Infect Dis. 9(8):922-925
• Pubmed ID:
  12967488
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC3020615
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Volume:
  9
• Issue:
  8
• Collection(s):
  Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:270612589d27d9772db133fb1565990f5d2437978fc4b5b93976dc5bc7c7e7b8
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/14276/cdc_14276_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 249.26 KB ]