Emerging fungus that attacks reptiles tends not to pass directly between Brisbane's eastern water dragons

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-12-17 11:01

Australia; QLD

CC-0. Story by Dr Joe Milton, Australian Science Media Centre

Australian experts say the emerging disease-causing fungus Nannizziopsis barbatae tends to infect eastern water dragons (Intellagama lesueurii) because it's present in the environment, rather than being passed directly from dragon to dragon. The team collected data from long-term monitoring of a population of the dragons at the Roma Street Parklands in Brisbane. They then used the data to create computer simulations of how the fungus has spread in these dragons, finding it is not being passed directly between the reptiles, and that they're being infected indirectly, or picking it up from their surroundings. The findings show N. barbatae could pose a risk for Australia's reptiles, and they may be useful in managing any outbreaks, the scientists say.

News release

From: The Royal Society

Indirect pathogen transmission underlies an emerging infectious fungal disease outbreak in a wild reptile population

Fungal diseases pose a significant threat to wildlife, agricultural industries, and human health. Uncovering the mechanisms by which diseases spread infection can aid in managing outbreaks and reducing impacts. Here we investigate the transmission mechanism of a recently emerged wildlife fungal pathogen that poses a large risk to Australian reptiles, in a well-studied population of free-living eastern water dragons. We found that most infections come from fungus living freely in the environment, rather than from infected hosts spreading it to other dragons in the population. This finding has implications for how outbreaks of this pathogen can be effectively managed.

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Journal/
conference: Proceedings of the Royal Society B

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: The University of Queensland

Funder: No funding has been received for this article.

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