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To the Editor: Amphibian species are declining at an alarming rate on a global scale (1). One of the major reasons for these declines is chytridiomycosis, caused by the chytridiomycete fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (1, 2). This pathogen of amphibians has recently emerged globally (2, 3) and has caused mass die-offs and extensive species declines on 4 continents (1, 3); knowledge of its distribution and effects on amphibian populations remains poor. In Europe, little is known about B. dendrobatidis distribution, which is disturbing when one considers that at least 3 European amphibian species are undergoing chytrid-associated die-offs that will likely lead to local extinction (4, 5)(J. Bosch et al., unpub. data).

We screened 1,664 current and archived samples of wild amphibians collected in Europe from 1994 to 2004 by researchers using amphibians as study organisms. B. dendrobatidis infects the skin of …