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Emerging and Epizootic Fungal Infections in Animals pp 309–335Cite as

Chytridiomycosis

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Abstract

The amphibian fungal disease chytridiomycosis is considered one of the greatest threats to biodiversity. This lethal skin disease is caused by chytridiomycete fungi belonging to the genus Batrachochytrium. Although sudden amphibian population declines had occurred since the 1970s in the Americas and Australia, mass mortalities were not observed until the 1990s. The fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) was identified as the cause of these declines. It is estimated that Bd has caused the rapid decline or extinction of at least 200 amphibian species, which is probably an underestimation due to the cryptic behaviour of many amphibians such as many salamanders and also the lack of monitoring. A second chytrid species, B. salamandrivorans (Bsal), has recently emerged and caused mass mortality in salamanders in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, affecting most salamander and newt taxa in the amphibian community and is considered a major threat to the western Palearctic amphibian biodiversity. In this chapter we review the epidemiology, host pathogen interactions and mitigation strategies of both chytrid pathogens.

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Acknowledgements

LB was supported by the Australian Research Council (grant FT100100375).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Pathology, Bacteriology and Avian Diseases, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    An Martel & Frank Pasmans

  2. Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK

    Matthew C. Fisher

  3. Griffith University, Environmental Futures Research Institute, School of Environment, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Laura F. Grogan

  4. One Health Research Group, College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia

    Lee F. Skerratt & Lee Berger

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  1. An Martel
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  5. Lee F. Skerratt
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  6. Lee Berger
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Correspondence to An Martel .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Clinical Immunology and Microbiology (LCIM), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland, USA

    Seyedmojtaba Seyedmousavi

  2. Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    G. Sybren de Hoog

  3. Department of Parasitology, Mycology and Dermatology, EnvA, Ecole nationale vétérinaire d’Alfort, UPEC, Maisons-Alfort, France

    Jacques Guillot

  4. Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Paul E. Verweij

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Martel, A., Pasmans, F., Fisher, M.C., Grogan, L.F., Skerratt, L.F., Berger, L. (2018). Chytridiomycosis. In: Seyedmousavi, S., de Hoog, G., Guillot, J., Verweij, P. (eds) Emerging and Epizootic Fungal Infections in Animals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72093-7_14

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