A microscopic chytrid fungus is causing massive declines in frog
populations all over the world and even the extinction of
certain species. Together with colleagues from Europe and the
USA, researchers from the University of Zurich present methods
as to how the chytrid fungus can be combated in the journal
Frontiers in Zoology: namely with bacteria and fungicides.
However, the possibility of vaccinating the frogs is also being
considered. New pathogens are not just a growing problem for
humans and livestock, but also wild animals. Along with the
destruction of their habitats and the overexploitation of their
populations, a disease caused by a chytrid fungus called
chytridiomycosis is one of the three biggest killers of
amphibians in the world. Devastating declines in amphibian
populations were observed in Australia and Central America in
the 1980s and 1990s. However, it wasn't until 1998 that the
pathogen, the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, was
finally identified and described; the fungus has