By Susan Milius
The biggest genetic study yet of a notorious frog-killing fungus says it probably originated in East Asia in the 20th century.
The chytrid fungus nicknamed Bd, which attacks the skin, has astonished biologists in the last several decades by causing sudden, mass die-offs among frogs and other amphibians in Australia, Panama and other places worldwide. But where and when the killer emerged and how it spread have been much-debated mysteries. Studies have proposed North and South America as well as Africa and Asia as the homeland where a once-obscure fungus turned deadly.