Overview
- University of Queensland’s decade-long study found Nannizziopsis barbatae expanded from a single 2013 case to about half of roughly 400 eastern water dragons at Brisbane’s Roma Street Parklands, with a sharp rise two to three years ago now plateauing.
- Field and soil testing indicate reptiles are contracting the pathogen from contaminated environments rather than mainly through direct contact, with NB detected in soils across Brisbane.
- Infections have been reported beyond Brisbane, including cases in Dubbo, New South Wales, and Perth, Western Australia, and researchers say multiple reptile populations show signs of disease.
- The fungus eats keratin in reptile scales, causing disfiguring lesions, lethargy, loss of digits or limbs, and often starvation and death, and there is currently no treatment.
- The team, whose findings are published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, says the origin remains unclear after an initial 2009 detection in a captive bearded dragon and is calling for large-scale monitoring given Australia’s many endemic reptile species.