Media Story on Soil Diseases

This is the human health story we sent nationwide in April 2009 but none of the major media would run it with the exception of Seven News (tv). We have to ask, "since when does the media have the right to deliberately withhold information which is meant to protect human health?".

Frog Decline Reversal Project, Inc. (Cairns Frog Hospital)
Media Release
Thursday, April 9th, 2009

TOXIC SNAKES, SPIDERS - YES - BUT TOXIC SOIL?

The Curator of the Cairns Frog Hospital recently had a close encounter which brought her new understanding of how some of her froggy patients must feel. This unpleasant meeting wasn't with one of Australia's deadly snakes or highly venomous spiders but with the muddy soil in the facility's backyard!

People don't generally think of their yards as a threatening place but soil diseases are some of the nastiest beasties out there and the possible increase of these pathogens in the soil is of growing concern to the frog conservation group. Its Curator, Deborah Pergolotti, has just been released from hospital after having surgery for an aggressive infection with invasive Streptococcus and Pseudomonas - two soil diseases which dissolve tissues and are notoriously difficult to treat (and painful !)

Ms. Pergolotti is now calling on Queensland Health and the Commonwealth government to add Pseudomonas, Streptococcus Groups A & B, and Staphylococcus aureus and it's MRSA strain to the Notifiable Diseases list for both human and veterinary cases urgently. Still sporting an uncomfortable limp, she stressed that, "Because these diseases are not notifiable, there is insufficient monitoring of their incidence, where these infections are being picked up, how they were acquired, and even how much they are costing the public health system". Monitoring could highlight where better public education needs to be directed and where containment procedures need to be strengthened, but it also would provide confirmation if zoonotic transmission should ever occur [this is where animal disease is transmitted to a human]

Ms. Pergolotti is equally emphatic about the risks posed to children especially by these soil diseases. "My infection was difficult enough for an adult to manage and meant I couldn't walk for a month, was in hospital for a week, had two surgeries plus more than two months of multiple antibiotics at maximum doses and may still suffer long term damage to the foot. I doubt a child could be dosed up on the level of pain killers I was on so what kind of suffering would they have to go through?"

These diseases also pose a threat to wildlife and that is where any possibility of zoonotic transmission needs to be watched. "We have lab results going back years to show that Pseudomonas has been found on frogs regularly and, since cyclone Larry, Streptococcus has also been present along with a mildly formidable list of other unpleasant human diseases." Steptococcus Group B in particular has recently received media attention because of its involvement in fish deaths which suggests to us that there could be a lot more of it in the wet season runoff than expected.

The group stresses that everyone - especially children - NEVER handle any frog or toad without gloves or a plastic bag over their hand. Deborah warns, "I want to make it VERY CLEAR THAT FROGS ARE NOT A THREAT AND ONLY SOME OF THEM could have something nasty on their skin, but only someone experienced with these conditions could tell which ones. We are saying to be safe and always use gloves."

Information about controlling soil diseases is sparse and the Soils CRC was discontinued in 1998. The Cairns Frog Hospital wants to hear from soil specialists anywhere in Australia to discuss recommendations that residents can use to improve soil health and outcompete both bacterial and fungal soil diseases.

[end release]

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Last updated: July 26th, 2009

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