Indirect pathogen transmission underlies an emerging infectious fungal disease outbreak in a wild reptile population
Open accessAbstract
Infectious diseases present a growing risk to wildlife biodiversity. Predicting outbreak dynamics and developing effective management tools require knowledge on the mechanisms of infection transmission. Specifically, understanding the relative contributions of direct host-to-host transmission versus indirect environmental transmission is critical. Here, we leverage a large dataset from long-term monitoring of a free-living population of eastern water dragons (Intellagama lesueurii) experiencing an outbreak of the fungal pathogen Nannizziopsis barbatae to investigate this pathogen’s transmission. Using different host behaviours to model direct and indirect transmission of infection in this population, we demonstrate N. barbatae’s ability to infect hosts through indirect transmission. Our findings shed light on the danger N. barbatae poses to Australian reptiles but also provide insights into how outbreaks should be managed. Additionally, we provide a methodology to elucidate the transmission mechanisms of driving the spread of emerging fungal pathogens.
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Cites
Infectious disease in an era of global change
Baker, R. E., Mahmud, A. S., Miller, I. F., Rajeev, M., Rasambainarivo, F., Rice, B. L., Takahashi, S., Tatem, A. J., Wagner, C. E., Wang, L.-F., et al. (2022) · Nature Reviews Microbiology · doi:10.1038/s41579-021-00639-z · Cited by 2,059 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Becker, S. C., Albery, G. F., Jackson, N., Prewett, E., Mitchell, A. C., McGuigan, K., & Frere, C. H.
- Affiliations
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- Georgetown University (US)
- The University of Queensland 1 , , ,
- ORCID
- Venue
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2025-12-17
- Volume
- 292
- Issue
- 2061
- ISSN
- 0080-4649 (ISSN-L)
- 1471-2954
- OpenAlex
- W7117326179
- Cited by
- 5
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5
- FWCI
- 1.75
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) (cc-by)
- Funders
- Australian Research Council
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Amphibian and Reptile Biology
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Fungal Infections and Studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Parasite Biology and Host Interactions
- Keywords
- environmental transmission, eastern water dragon, Intellagama lesueurii, emerging infectious diseases, wildlife disease, host behavior, transmission mechanism, reptile populations, epidemic control
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Animals, Wild, Ascomycota, Australia, Disease Outbreaks, Lizards, Mycoses, Communicable Diseases, Emerging
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