Dr Trent Garner - Amphibian-associated ranaviruses: the first (and worst?) infectious disease conservation issue for amphibians

Parasitism is widely accepted as a driver behind global amphibian population declines. Most of the science (and bombast) behind this statement is associated with the chytrid fungal genus, Batrachochytrium. However, decades before the emergence of chytridiomycosis, amphibian mass mortality events caused by ranaviruses were reported in North America. These and subsequent cases of lethal ranavirosis in amphibians and in the UK and Asia were not effectively promoted as conservation issues. Recent reports of extensive amphibian mortality events in Europe has illustrated how these pathogens may pose an even greater threat to amphibian, and possibly reptilian, biodiversity. The ongoing focus on fungal pathogens of amphibians is warranted, but may be causing the research and conservation communities to overlook a more urgent and difficult to solve disease threat to amphibian biodiversity.