Diseases of tadpoles

This chapter is devoted to the diseases of anuran larvae that cause morbidity( illness) and mortality (death). The purpose of this chapter is to describe diseases that may be encountered in free-living tadpoles of the United States and Canada. Much of the information in this chapter comes from unpublished diagnostic examinations of amphibians done at the U.S. Geological Survey, National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC). Many parasites infect amphibians, and with very few exceptions, these are clinically silent infections (produce no overt evidence of illness or death); accordingly, readers are referred to parasitology texts for a review of protozoan, helminthic and ectoparasitic organisms of amphibians (Flynn, 1973; Poynton and Whitaker, 2001). Diseases presented in this chapter are Ranaviral (iridovirus) infection Adenovirus infection Lucke frog herpesvirus Chytrid fungal infection Watermold infection (saprolegniasis) Coccidiosis Leeches Anchorworms