Until publication, communication of provisional scientific findings beyond participants in the study is typically limited. This practice helps assure scientific integrity. However, a dilemma arises when a provisional finding has urgent societal consequences that may be exacerbated by delay. This dilemma may be particularly pronounced when a discovery concerns wildlife health, which could have implications for conservation, public health, or domestic animal health. Eleven researchers suggest that common concerns about directed prepublication communication largely stem from misperceptions and that none should cause a delay in the communication of time-sensitive provisional findings to appropriate authorities. Instead, they suggest that rapid communication of a provisional discovery could be beneficial, such as in the example they use involving the potential discovery of the amphibian fungal pathogen Bsal that is currently causing salamander die-offs in Europe.

Understanding the ecosystem-level persistence of pathogens is essential for predicting
and measuring host-pathogen dynamics. However, this process is often masked, in
part due to a reliance on host-based pathogen detection methods. The amphibian
pathogens Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) and B. salamandrivorans (Bsal) are
pathogens of global conservation concern. Despite having free-living life stages, little is
known about the distribution and persistence of these pathogens outside of their
amphibian hosts. We combine historic amphibian monitoring data with contemporary
host- and environment-based pathogen detection data to obtain estimates of Bd
occurrence independent of amphibian host distributions. We also evaluate differences
in filter- and swab-based detection probability and assess inferential differences arising
from using different decision criteria used to classify samples as positive or negative.
Water filtration-based detection probabilities were lower than those from swabs but
were >10%, and swab-based detection probabilities varied seasonally, declining in the
early fall. The decision criterion used to classify samples as positive or negative was
important; using a more liberal criterion yielded higher estimates of Bd occurrence than
when a conservative criterion was used. Different covariates were important when
using the liberal or conservative criterion in modeling Bd detection. We found evidence
of long-term Bd persistence for several years after an amphibian host species of
conservation concern, the boreal toad (Anaxyrus boreas boreas), was last detected.
Our work provides evidence of long-term Bd persistence in the ecosystem and
underscores the importance of environmental samples for understanding and
mitigating disease-related threats to amphibian biodiversity.

Severe Perkinsea infection (SPI) is an emerging disease of frogs caused by protozoa belonging to the phylum Perkinsozoa and responsible for mass mortalities of tadpoles across the USA. In this work, we 1) provide detailed description of gross and histologic lesions from 178 naturally infected wild frogs including ten species from 22 mortality events and six amphibian health monitoring studies from diverse geographic areas; 2) compare the pathology associated with SPI with that observed in ranavirosis, an epidemiological and pathologically overlapping major infectious diseases of immature frogs in North America; and 3) propose a case definition for SPI to promote standardized communication of results and consistent national reporting of this disease. Based on the current information about SPI, laboratory criteria for confirmation of SPI as cause of death requires: DNA amplification by PCR and subsequent identification of PPC by sequencing of the SSU rDNA from one or more internal organs and presence of histologic evidence suggestive of SPI, which includes multiorgan necrosis and replacement by myriads of extracellular and intracellular Perkinsea-like protozoa.