Brannelly Laura A, Richards-Zawacki Corinne L, Pessier Allan P
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118, USA.
Dis Aquat Organ. 2012 Nov 8;101(2):95-104. doi: 10.3354/dao02521.
Due in large part to recent global declines and extinctions, amphibians are the most threatened vertebrate group. Captive assurance colonies may be the only lifeline for some rapidly disappearing species. Maintaining these colonies free of disease represents a challenge to effective amphibian conservation. The fungal disease chytridiomycosis, caused by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), is one of the major contributors to global amphibian declines and also poses a serious threat to captive assurance colonies. Many treatment options for Bd infection have not been experimentally tested and the commonly administered dosages of some drugs are known to have negative side effects, highlighting a need for clinical trials. The objective of this study was to clinically test the drug itraconazole as a method for curing Bd infection. We bathed Bd-positive juveniles of 2 anuran amphibian species, Litoria caerulea and Incilius nebulifer, in aqueous itraconazole, varying the concentration and duration of treatment, to find the combination that caused the fewest side effects while also reliably ridding animals of Bd. Our results suggest that a bath in 0.0025% itraconazole for 5 min d-1 for 6 d reliably cures Bd infection and causes fewer side effects than the longer treatment times and higher concentrations of this drug that are commonly administered.
在很大程度上，由于近期全球范围内两栖动物数量的减少和灭绝，两栖动物成为了受威胁最严重的脊椎动物群体。圈养保护种群可能是一些迅速消失物种的唯一生命线。使这些种群免受疾病困扰是两栖动物有效保护面临的一项挑战。由真菌蛙壶菌（Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis，简称Bd）引起的真菌病——壶菌病，是导致全球两栖动物数量减少的主要因素之一，同时也对圈养保护种群构成严重威胁。许多针对Bd感染的治疗方法尚未经过实验测试，而且已知一些常用药物的剂量会产生负面副作用，这凸显了开展临床试验的必要性。本研究的目的是对药物伊曲康唑进行临床测试，以验证其作为治疗Bd感染方法的有效性。我们将两种无尾两栖动物物种——绿雨滨蛙（Litoria caerulea）和云雾蟾蜍（Incilius nebulifer）的Bd阳性幼体浸泡在伊曲康唑水溶液中，改变治疗浓度和持续时间，以找出副作用最小且能可靠清除动物体内Bd的组合。我们的结果表明，每天用0.0025%的伊曲康唑浸泡5分钟，持续6天，能够可靠地治愈Bd感染，且与常用的更长治疗时间和更高浓度相比，副作用更少。
