DAO prepress abstract   -  DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/dao03795

ABSTRACT: Chytridiomycosis is a devastating disease and is a key cause of amphibian population declines around the world. Despite active research on this amphibian-disease system for over two decades, we still do not have treatment methods that are safe and can be broadly used across species. Here we show evidence that voriconazole is a successful method of treatment for one species of amphibian in captivity, and this treatment could offer benefits over other treatment options like heat or itraconazole, which are not able to be used for all species/life stages. We conducted two treatments of chytridiomycosis using voriconazole. The treatment was effective and resulted in 100% pathogen clearance and mortality ceased. Additionally, treating frogs with voriconazole requires less handling than treatment methods like itraconazole, and requires no specialized equipment, like heat treatment. We highlight that clinical treatment trials should be conducted to identify an optimum dosage and treatment time, and trials should test whether this treatment is safe and effective for tadpoles and other species.