Chytridiomycosis cured by Chloramphenicol

Permalink: Chytridiomycosis cured by Chloramphenicol

Good news for frogs!

As some may be aware, Chytridiomycosis has been devastating amphibian populations around the world for over 25 years now, and is believed a key factor in the extinction of as many as a third of amphibian species - 120 - during this time.

However, scientists in New Zealand have found that a common and inexpensive drug - Chloramphenicol - can be used to completely cure affected frogs.

The strange thing is that Chytridiomycosis is a fungal disease, yet Chloramphenicol is an antibiotic.

Still, at least now a cure has been found, an effective development for distributing and applying it can be researched.

Due to known side-effects in humans, we’re unlikely to see mass spraying of affected areas, though considering humanities past cock-ups in this area, probably a good thing.

Frog killer fungus ‘breakthrough’

New Zealand scientists have found what appears to be a cure for the disease that is responsible for wiping out many of the world’s frog populations.

Chloramphenicol, currently used as an eye ointment for humans, may be a lifesaver for the amphibians, they say.

The researchers found frogs bathed in the solution became resistant to the killer disease, chytridiomycosis.

Fearful that chytridiomycosis might wipe out New Zealand’s critically endangered Archey’s frog (Leiopelma archeyi), the researchers have been hunting for a compound that would kill off the disease’s trigger, the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis.

They tested the chloramphenicol candidate on two species introduced to New Zealand from Australia: the brown tree frog (Litoria ewingii) and the southern bell frog (L. raniformis).

“We found that we could cure them completely of chytrids,” said Phil Bishop from the University of Otago.

“And even when they were really sick in the control group, we managed to bring them back almost from the dead.”

“You could put them on their back and they just wouldn’t right themselves, they would just lie there. You could then treat them with chloramphenicol and they would come right,” Dr Bishop explained.

South China Tiger spotted in wild

Permalink: South China Tiger spotted in wild

It’s not often we see good news about endangered species being spotted, but it does happen - as recently demonstrated by sightings of what appears to be the South China Tiger:

Rare China tiger seen in the wild

A rare South China tiger has been seen in the wild for the first time in decades, according to reports from China’s official Xinhua news agency.

The sighting, which came after a farmer handed in some pictures, surprised researchers who feared the tiger was extinct.

Experts have now confirmed that the photographs do show a young, wild South China tiger.

The tiger is critically endangered and was last sighted in the wild in 1964.

The farmer, who took the pictures at the beginning of this month, lives in Shaanxi province.

Experts have said that no more than 20 to 30 of the tigers were believed to remain in the wild, but none have been spotted in decades, with many fearing that a small number of captive-born tigers were all that remained.