Workshop on Amphibian Diseases and Immunity to be held July 26-28, 1998, at the San Diego Zoo

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Carey 9815335 This proposal requests funding for a workshop, entitled "Workshop on Amphibian Diseases and Immune Function", to be held July 26-28, 1998, at the San Diego Zoo. This workshop follows a "Workshop on Amphibian Declines", held May 28-29, at the National Science Foundation. That workshop brought together a number of biologists who have been working on amphibian declines around the world. Several presentations focused on the role of disease as a factor in amphibian mortality in the field. Since amphibians have robust iminune systems that should be capable of defending against all but the most virulent pathogens, the existing data suggest that one or more environmental factors are altering the balances between pathogens and hosts in a manner that is detrimental to the amphibians. Since outbreaks of disease have recently been noted in a number of different types of organisms, including coral reefs, turtles, and mammals, these observations together may signal global environmental deterioration to the extent that humans may also soon be at risk. The workshop will bring together individuals who have observed amphibian declines in the field, pathologists, epidemiologists, neuroinimunologists, endocrinologists, and immunotoxicologists to identify what is known and what needs to be learned about these mass die-offs. Identification of the pathogens involved in amphibian mass-mortality, the manner by which they are successfully infecting amphibians, and the reasons why the immune systems of amphibians are not successfully protecting them is essential for predicting which environmental factors might be the ultimate causal factors in amphibian declines. A review of the findings will be published in Developmental and Comparative Immunology.