Newly Developed Method for Detection of Parasitic Worms that Infect Amphibians and Reptiles

What is it about?

Amphibians make up an important part of life on Earth, contributing considerably to global biodiversity and providing us with chemicals for some modern medicines. However, they currently face various threats most of which are due to manmade problems, such as climate change and pollution. Worsening the situation, it has recently been found that many parasitic worms that would normally cause little harms to Amphibians are now becoming more damaging, taking advantage of already weakened populations. Information about how these worms are adapting to exploit Amphibians is important if they are to be saved. Therefore, we set out to develop a method for identifying the presence of such worms using DNA that they naturally shed and release in their host’s faeces. This system would avoid the need for dissection to identify worm infection, whilst also providing researchers with a way to see the effects worms are having on Amphibian losses.

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Why is it important?

This is the first time such a method for parasite detection has been developed for non-typical host species like amphibians and reptiles. This method has been rigorously tested in species artificially infected with parasitic worms and also in wild and captive amphibian and reptile hosts, identifying previously unknown infections in species at ZSL London Zoo. The developed method is important as it provides scientists with a tool with which they can detect and identify parasitic infection in reptiles and amphibians and thus highlight connections between these infections and other events such as population losses or infection with other agents.

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