美國科學家於本周出刊的《國家科學院學報》中指出，巴拿馬西部爆發水媒傳染的真菌感染（fungal disease）造成八個科的巴拿馬兩棲類死亡，並且持續擴散。據統計，目前超過40種的中美洲兩棲類及遍及世界93種兩棲類動物，因真菌感染而導致數量逐漸減少。
不過，在這感染爆發之前，已有少數研究人員發現並偵測到這些真菌的存在，目睹了這波疾病所造成的衝擊。任職於南伊利諾伊州立大學卡本代爾分校（SIU）的動物學家利普斯博士(Dr. Karen Lips)在研究報告中如是表示。
「我們預料到真菌將向東擴散，因此事在真菌感染地區附近選擇一個無真菌感染的研究區域。」利普斯說道：「我們發現，這些真菌找到自己的活動範圍之後，即快速地引起當地兩棲類絕跡，且破壞蛙類以及蠑螈的生物多樣性。」
美國國家科學基金會（NSF）的生物科學副主任柯林斯(James Collins)表示：「像真菌這類的微生物的確會感染動物，但是它們極少會引起毀滅他們感染的物種，這是病原體會導致該地區物種絕跡的稀少例子之一。」
But few researchers have been able to detect and monitor the presence of the fungus before a disease outbreak, and then witness the impact of an epidemic as it occurred, said zoologist Dr. Karen Lips of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIU), lead author of the report.
"We anticipated the eastward movement of the fungus, and chose a fungus-free study site near a previously infected area," said Lips. "The fungus found its way there, and when it did, it quickly caused local amphibian extinctions and devastated frog and salamander biodiversity."
Microbes such as this fungus infect animals, but they "rarely cause extinctions in the species they infect," said James Collins, assistant director of biological sciences at the National Science Foundation (NSF). "There are only a few examples where we think a pathogen resulted in extinction of a species in an area. This is one of them."
An outbreak of waterborne fungal disease in western Panama has eliminated eight families of Panamanian amphibians and is spreading, scientists report in this week's issue of the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences." The fungus has been implicated in the decline of more than 40 amphibian species in Central America and 93 such species worldwide.
