Effect of season and temperature on mortality in amphibians due to chytridiomycosis

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the distribution and incidence of chytridiomycosis in eastern Australian frogs and to examine the effects of temperature on this disease. DESIGN: A pathological survey and a transmission experiment were conducted. PROCEDURE: Diagnostic pathology examinations were performed on free-living and captive, ill and dead amphibians collected opportunistically from eastern Australia between October 1993 and December 2000. We conducted a transmission experiment in the laboratory to investigate the effects of temperature: eight great barred frogs (Mixophyes fasciolatus) exposed to zoospores of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and six unexposed frogs were housed individually in each of three rooms held at 17 degrees C, 23 degrees C and 27 degrees C. RESULTS: Chytridiomycosis was the cause of death or morbidity for 133 (55.2%) of 241 free-living amphibians and for 66 (58.4%) of 113 captive amphibians. This disease occurred in 34 amphibian species, was widespread around the eastern seaboard of Australia and affected amphibians in a variety of habitats at high and low altitudes on or between the Great Dividing Range and the coast. The incidence of chytridiomycosis was higher in winter, with 53% of wild frogs from Queensland and New South Wales dying in July and August. Other diseases were much less common and were detected mostly in spring and summer. In experimental infections, lower temperatures enhanced the pathogenicity of B. dendrobatidis in M. fasciolatus. All 16 frogs exposed to B. dendrobatidis at 17 degrees C and 23 degrees C died, whereas 4 of 8 frogs exposed at 27 degrees C survived. However, the time until death for the frogs that died at 27 degrees C was shorter than at the lower temperatures. Infections in survivors were eliminated by 98 days. CONCLUSION: Chytridiomycosis is a major cause of mortality in free-living and captive amphibians in Australia and mortality rate increases at lower temperatures.     

A prolonged outbreak of polioencephalomyelitis due to infection with a group I porcine enterovirus.

A commercial swineherd in Indiana experienced high death loss of nursery pigs with neurologic disorders for a prolonged period. Polioencephalomyelitis was the consistent histopathological lesion in affected animals. A porcine enterovirus (PEV) classified to group I was isolated from spinal cords and brains collected from the affected animals. The isolate (ISUVDL 200103183) was determined to belong to either serogroup 5 or 6 at the National Veterinary Services Laboratories, Ames, IA. No other significant viral or bacterial agents were isolated from or detected in the animals. A prospective longitudinal serological monitoring of pigs in the index herd for the PEV isolate revealed that colostrum-derived neutralizing antibodies to the virus rapidly declined, and by the age of 21 days the majority of piglets had no or minimal neutralizing antibody against the virus. Seroconversion to the virus then coincided with increased mortality in the herd. Results of diagnostic and cohort observations supported a diagnosis of PEV infection as the cause of the prolonged outbreak of "polio." Investigation into factors that may be contributing to the prolonged problem is currently in progress.