What's wrong with the frogs?

[Marineboy]

Having spent the afternoon working in the garden and around the pond I was delighted to find such a huge population of adult and juvenile newts. And loads of frogs too. Most of these frogs seem strong and healthy, but after pond dipping with the family I became aware that all is not well. The pond itself is healthy with a lovely pondy smell to it - nothing wrong there. Picked up one frog with lovely bright eyes but minimal strength to its back legs. Another was even more wasted, and completely blind. This I have not seen before
Did I read somewhere recently about a disease or a virus that is wiping out frogs? Have you had this same threat to your frog population?
I know my garden is not as neat and as tidy as my neighbours, and I have patches of long grass, but wow is it densly populated with frogs. These wasted frogs may simply be natures way of controlling numbers, but as I happen to like frogs, and it seems unusual, and I am sure I read somewhere about something nasty going through the frog populations throughout the country I thought I would see if others report the same.
(PS. I don't want a sterile neat garden like my neighbours. I like a garden to have some life to it!)

[Marineboy]

This is what I saw on the BBC website

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Bacteria could stop frog killer

Is this global? Is it in this country? What are the symptoms?
The symptoms I have seen in three frogs today are:

Frogs are extreme lethargic. They are very weak, thin and wasted. Back legs especially are very thin with minimal strength to them - certainly unable to jump.
One frog otherwise had bright eyes and good colour. Another very dark in colour an totally blind.
OK, so two sick frogs may not be a great deal, but this as I said is unusual.

[Marineboy]

Found this on a UK Herps site - paralysis of back legs describes exactly what I have seen. This fungus is definately here and from what I have seen it is going to have a devastating consequence on out frogs. Strangely though, the newts seem unaffected. I will monitor the situation.

Chytrid Fungus
Background
Amphibian chytrid Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis was first identified in the late 1990s in both the Americas and Australia. It is believed to have emerged from Africa (as suggested by examinations of archive samples from the 1930s) due to global trade of clawed frogs Xenopus laevis for use in laboratories, for example in pregnancy testing.

This chytrid fungus has now been identified on all continents where amphibians occur. It is responsible for the disease chytridiomycosis, causing population declines and extinctions in at least 120 species of amphibians worldwide.
Effects of chytridiomycosis
It is not understood exactly how chytrid affects its amphibian hosts. It lives in the cells of keratinised skin. Hence it is possible that it interferes with the amphibian’s respiration and water balance both of which occur via the skin. Alternatively, the chytrid may release toxic products. Researchers have proposed the possibility of a neurotoxin, as paralysis of the hind legs has been noted in some severely infected animals.

Amphibians may be most susceptible to chytrid shortly after completion of metamorphosis. It has been responsible for mass mortalities of toadlets within 10-50 days after emergence from the water. Testing of archived samples suggests that it was responsible for ‘toadlet mortality syndrome’ noted in North America in the late 1970s.

However, chytrid does not always have noticeable effects. Even severely infected adult animals may show little or no symptoms.
Situation in the UK
In the UK the disease was first recorded in a population of introduced North American bullfrogs Lithobates catesbeianus/Rana catesbeiana, which had become established in south-east England. However a more worrying trend was found during 2006 when a volunteer involved with the HCT’s captive rearing programmes noticed unexplained mortality in captive reared natterjacks toadlets prior to their release. His vigilance and reporting led, in turn, to the discovery of infected natterjacks at a site in Cumbria.

Subsequent sampling by an HCT officer, volunteers and the Institute of Zoology identified five further infected natterjack sites in Cumbria, during the spring and summer 2007.

The HCT is a partner in the current national sampling effort, which is a direct result of the work from Cumbria, and is intended to establish whether chytrid occurs in other parts of England. Not only do we not know whether chytrid is widespread in England, but we also do not know what effects it might have, if any, on our native amphibians.

[Bub-les]

Sounds like you should report your findings.
Barbara

[Digifrog]

Yes, you should try to take some pictures of these animals and send them along with your concerns to Froglife. They will be in a good position to advise you properly.