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The mysterious decline in numbers of the world’s amphibians may be caused by
introduced epidemics. Fungal infections, parasites, pollution and habitat loss
have all been invoked to explain mass deaths of amphibians in the past decade.
But in the electronic journal Emerging Infectious Diseases (vol 5, no
6), scientists from the US, Britain and Australia say the patterns of death are
best explained by an introduced fungal infection sweeping across Central America
and Australia, and a virus in North America and Europe.