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Fungal Disease Killing European Salamanders Could Soon Make Its Way to American Populations

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A new study has detailed a deadly fungal disease currently wreaking havoc on salamanders and newts in Europe that could soon hit American populations.

According to LiveScience, the disease is related to one that has plagued amphibians and it affects its victims by invading the skin. The study authors, whose work is published in the journal Science, say the new disease can be contained but only if the scientific community acts swiftly.

The fungus is known as Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans and researchers first noticed it last year when investigating a large dip in the Netherlands' population of fire salamanders. For their study, the researchers sought out the disease in salamanders and newts on four different continents, as it apparently does not affect other amphibians.

"When a disease has been around for a long time, animals develop resistance to it. Globalisation has resulted in the movement of humans and animals all across the world, bringing pathogens into contact with hosts that haven't had the opportunity to establish resistance," study lead author An Martel, a professor at Ghent University, said in a press release. "As a consequence, pathogens like B. salamandrivorans that are brought to a new environment can very rapidly threaten many species with extinction."

To try and save the salamanders with the disease, conservationists placed them into captivity, but Martel said this proved to fail.

"When they captured them, they looked healthy and it didn't seem anything was wrong with them," she told LiveScience. "After a few weeks, they started dying in captivity."

Not involved in the study, Peter Jenkins, president of the Center for Invasive Species Prevention, acknowledged that the U.S. needs to react quickly in order to keep its populations of salamanders and newts safe.

"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must act fast to keep this disease from infecting wild salamanders in the United States," he said in a press release. "With nearly 200 species, the United States is a global hotspot of salamander biodiversity. If we don't act fast, we could lose these vital and popular animals from the wild."

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