o:3195 Alpine salamanders at risk? The current status of an emerging fungal pathogen en Amphibians globally suffer from emerging infectious diseases like chytridiomycosis caused by the continuously spreading chytrid fungi. One is Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) and its disease ? the 'salamander plague' ? which is lethal to several caudate taxa. Recently introduced into Western Europe, long distance dispersal of Bsal, likely through human mediation, has been reported. Herein we study if Alpine salamanders (Salamandra atra and S. lanzai) are yet affected by the salamander plague in the wild. Members of the genus Salamandra are highly susceptible to Bsal leading to the lethal disease. Moreover, ecological modelling has shown that the Alps and Dinarides, where Alpine salamanders occur, are generally suitable for Bsal. We analysed skin swabs of 818 individuals of Alpine salamanders and syntopic amphibians at 40 sites between 2017 to 2022. Further, we compiled those with published data from 319 individuals from 13 sites concluding that Bsal infections were not detected. Our results suggest that the salamander plague so far is absent from the geographic ranges of Alpine salamanders. That means that there is still a chance to timely implement surveillance strategies. Among others, we recommend prevention measures, citizen science approaches, and ex situ conservation breeding of endemic salamandrid lineages. Animals; Batrachochytriumgeneticspathogenicity; Mycosesveterinarymicrobiologyepidemiology; Urodelamicrobiology; Communicable Diseases, Emergingmicrobiologyepidemiologyveterinary; Salamandramicrobiology; Europeepidemiology; Chytridiomycota 1552099 10.1371/journal.pone.0298591 2024-07-05T08:30:33.421Z 44 yes 46 Philipp Böning Trier University 0000-0002-4437-4712 Stefan Lötters Trier University person Benedetta Barzaghi University of Milan person Marvin Bock Trier University person Bobby Bok St. Michael College person Lucio Bonato University of Padova / National Biodiversity Future Center Palermo person Gentile Francesco Ficetola University of Milan person Florian Glaser Technisches Büro für Biologie Absam person Josline Griese person Markus Grabher UMG Umweltbüro Grabher person Camille Leroux Sorbonne Université / Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales person 0000-0002-4984-3485 Gopikrishna Munimanda University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna person Raoul Manenti University of Milan person 0000-0001-6071-8194 Gerda Ludwig Amphibienwerkstatt person Doris Preininger Vienna Zoo person Mark-Oliver Rödel Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science person Sebastian Seibold Technical University Dresden / Berchtesgaden National Park / Technical University of Munich person Steve Smith University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna person 0000-0002-1318-0018 Laura Tiemann Technical University of Munich person Jürgen Thein Büro für Faunistik und Umweltbildung Haßfurt person Michael Veith Trier University person Amadeus Plewnia Trier University person 0000-0001-8731-6312 application/pdf 1650475 https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:3195 no yes 16 70 1552253 PloS one 13 19 5 Public Library of Science 2024