TY - JOUR AU - Weldon, Ché AU - du Preez, Louis H. AU - Hyatt, Alex D. AU - Muller, Reinhold AU - Speare, Rick T1 - Origin of the Amphibian Chytrid Fungus T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2004 VL - 10 IS - 12 SP - 2100 SN - 1080-6059 AB - The sudden appearance of chytridiomycosis, the cause of amphibian deaths and population declines in several continents, suggests that its etiologic agent, the amphibian chytrid Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, was introduced into the affected regions. However, the origin of this virulent pathogen is unknown. A survey was conducted of 697 archived specimens of 3 species of Xenopus collected from 1879 to 1999 in southern Africa in which the histologic features of the interdigital webbing were analyzed. The earliest case of chytridiomycosis found was in a Xenopus laevis frog in 1938, and overall prevalence was 2.7%. The prevalence showed no significant differences between species, regions, season, or time period. Chytridiomycosis was a stable endemic infection in southern Africa for 23 years before any positive specimen was found outside Africa. We propose that Africa is the origin of the amphibian chytrid and that the international trade in X. laevis that began in the mid-1930s was the means of dissemination. KW - Chytridiomycota KW - chytridiomycosis KW - Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis KW - amphibian chytrid KW - amphibian declines KW - disease KW - epidemiology KW - origin KW - prevalence KW - southern Africa KW - Xenopus KW - amphibians KW - research KW - South Africa KW - Lesotho KW - Swaziland DO - 10.3201/eid1012.030804 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/10/12/03-0804_article ER - End of Reference