heart Amphibian. Frogs for sale in a market in Jakarta.
Alejandro Rosselli
When the frog legs are on the menu, it's not just bad news for their former owners. A new study suggests that international trade of this delicacy can spread a deadly fungus that has already resulted in a number of species of extinct frogs.
The fungus in question is called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis , or Bd. First described it ten years ago, Bd is spread through water or direct contact between frogs. It infects the skin and enters the central nervous system. The disease has already in some places, especially in Central America "broken ecosystems," says biologist Brian Gratwicke the National Zoo, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC
To see how the frog's global trade may influence the spread of the disease, Gratwicke and colleagues compiled data from the statistical database on trade in the UN commodity. According to the database, approximately 10,000 tons of frog legs are shipped worldwide each year. The trade is worth about $ 40 million. Although the volume is insignificant compared to the $ 42 billion annual global trade in fish, it is risky because of the devastating nature of Bd, the team reported online 19 November in Frontiers in Ecology and the environment.
most exported frogs are skinned and frozen, Gratwicke said, eliminating the risk of transmission Bd. But his notes of the team, the products are poorly regulated. For example, frog legs prepared for export are not monitored for pathogens. Gratwicke said that although there have been no confirmed cases of the disease agent Bd to pass local frogs import leg of the frog, it is possible that the spores could enter the systems unskinned water, thighs of frogs thawed and from there to local frogs. Another concern is that people who handled infected frog skin could follow outside. "Although we have not been able to quantify these risks, given the size and scope of trade, we believe these risks should be managed," said Gratwicke.
biologist Ian Warkentin of Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada, the document says, it is "clearer than this massive trade undocumented and largely unregulated in amphibians," including the trade in live animals for pets is harmful. But Corey Bradshaw, Director of the Marine Biology Program at the University of Adelaide, Australia, calls the paper "speculative" and said the loss of habitat is still the overwhelming threat to the frogs in the world. "The disease takes a back seat in terms of drivers of extinction."
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