Cascade's Frog, Rana cascadae, in Lassen Volcanic National Park, CA

[Sunshine]

If they are treated and released back into the wild wont they get re-infected?

[Namio]

If they are treated and released back into the wild wont they get re-infected?

Excellent question, and it is likely they will be infected again. But here is how chytrid fungus infection works: it takes a certain amount of infection level for chytrid to be lethal, or hence to cause chytridiomycosis. The so-called threshold in each amphibian species is often different. Some species have a higher resistance, while some have a lower resistance against the infection. The threshold may vary with many biotic factors such as age & condition of the frog, virulence of the chytrid strain, etc., or other abiotic factors such as temperature, UV-B exposure, environmental degradation, etc. Notably, if chytrid infection never reached the threshold in a frog it will not die of the disease chytridiomycosis. Unfortunately, metamorphs (tadpoles that had just transformed into a froglet) are generally more vulnerable than older frogs because they're simply less developed (e.g., having very little antimicrobial skin peptides compare to an adult frog).

What is happening right now with Cascade's frog is that the new froglets aren't surviving to the next year, likely due to their low resistance against chytrid. If left untreated, the infection will soon reach that threshold and kill off all the froglets. What we hope for is that by clearing the infection completely right now, will give the frog extra time to grow up before facing the next infection (if there's next time).

[Sunshine]

Wow! You know a lot about this! I am very interested in seeing how the experiment turns out!

[Namio]

Wow! You know a lot about this! I am very interested in seeing how the experiment turns out!

Haha, I happened to study the same topic with my own research. I take no credit in my knowledge because it all came from all the previous studies that scientists around the world had done. All I did was reading them. Yes, if I heard something from my friend I will certainly keep you updated.