Zoologists Find New Ways to Help Amphibians

Amphibian populations around the world are in decline due to multiple factors, but one of the most serious threats they face is Chytridiomycosis, a fatal disease caused by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. To combat Chytridiomycosis, conservationists have resorted in some instances to capturing vulnerable amphibians from the wild and placing them in captivity. Now Trent Garner of the Institute of Zoology in London and his colleagues are devising a strategy to treat amphibians in the wild using the antifungal drug itraconazole.