Shifts in disease dynamics in a tropical amphibian assemblage are not due to pathogen attenuation

• DOI: 10.1126/science.aao4806
• Publication Date: 2018-03-29T18:11:09Z
• Authors: Jamie Voyles; Douglas C. Woodhams; Veronica Saenz; Allison Q. Byrne; Rachel Perez; Gabriela Rios-Sotelo; Mason J. Ryan; Molly C. Bletz; Florence Ann Sobell; Shawna McLetchie; Laura Reinert; Erica Bree Rosenblum; Louise A. Rollins...; Roberto Ibáñez; Julie M. Ray; Edgardo J. Griffith; Heidi Ross; Corinne L. Richar...
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; 03 medical and health sciences; Chytridiomycota; Panama; Host-Pathogen Interactions; Animals; Anura; Communicable Diseases; Models, Biological; Animal Diseases; Disease Outbreaks

Resistance is not futile

The fungal disease chytridiomycosis has wreaked havoc on amphibians worldwide. The disease is caused by the organism Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and was first identified in the late 1990s. Voyles et al. revisited protected areas in Panama where catastrophic amphibian losses were recorded a decade ago (see the Perspective by Collins). Although disease theory predicts that epidemics should result in reduced pathogenicity, they found no evidence for such a reduction. Despite this, the amphibian community is displaying signs of recovery—including some species presumed extinct after the outbreak. Increased host resistance may be responsible for this recovery.

Science , this issue p. 1517 ; see also p. 1458