Surveillance of amphibian populations for infectious diseases
Rick Speare1, Diana Mendez1, Lee Berger1,2 and Alex Hyatt2
1 School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia 4811.
2 Animal Health Laboratory, Ryrie St, Geelong, Victoria, Australia 3022.
Powerpoint presentation of talk (960 kb)
Effective surveillance of an infectious disease is defined as: collection, collation, analysis, and interpretation of disease specific data, with timely dissemination of this data to those who need to know to allow action to limit or decrease the impact of the disease. High priority infectious diseases for surveillance are those that cause high morbidity or mortality, have epidemic potential and whose epidemiology is rapidly changing particularly in terms of expansion of geographic range and spread into new host species.
Amphibian populations globally are under threat from two emerging infectious diseases, chytridiomycosis and ranaviral disease. Surveillance of these two diseases is essential. The Amphibian Disease Network established in Australia has potential to become a highly effective surveillance system for amphibian diseases. The diagnostic hub of the system is the Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) which has the high level expertise and technology to identify pathogens in ill and dead amphibians. AAHL's role, however, is not primarily one of routine diagnosis, but development of diagnostic tests and their subsequent dissemination. The surveillance arm of the Amphibian Diseases Network has been based at the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, James Cook University. The focus to date has been on collection, collation, analysis and interpretation of data on chytridiomycosis, with dissemination of the data via the World Wide Web at the Amphibian Diseases Home Page ( http://www.jcu.edu.au/school/phtm/PHTM/frogs/ampdis.htm).
In the past collection of data was simplified due to its being generated from a limited number of sources, all of which were fully integrated into the surveillance system. However, a major challenge facing this surveillance system is multiple sources of data as more scientists gain expertise in diagnosis of chytridiomycosis. This will result in data not being captured by the surveillance system. Strategies need to be devised to allow data from all sources to be captured. The concern of some researchers that prompt dissemination of their locality and host records will lessen their academic value may be addressed by clearly linking surveillance data with the source, and acceptance in academic circles that by participating in the surveillance system, scientists are making a significant contribution to effective management of amphibian populations and that this does not detract from their academic activities. The volume of data has also increased markedly. Automated procedures to allow more efficient collation of data are needed, as well as modifications to the way data is presented on the WWW. To address these challenges a web based data base of cases of chytridiomycosis that can be queried will be implemented in the latter part of 2000. Rapid dissemination of data can be achieved via email discussion groups such as FrogNet and ProMED, a global email list for emerging infectious diseases, and via a specific one way mailing list that will be established for the purpose. Ongoing funding support is needed to allow the surveillance system to function effectively and to be expanded to include other amphibian diseases.