The After Effects of Using Frog For Pregnancy Test

Between the 1930s and the 1960s, one common way to check if a woman was pregnant had to do with a frog and urine. So if your grandmother tested herself to see if she was pregnant, it was probably going to be with this technique.

Let me quickly explain how it was done. If a woman suspects she is pregnant, she would pee in a jar, take it to the healthcare officers who would then inject the pee into a frog and set it aside in a jar. If the frog remains that way, then it means the woman isn't pregnant but if it begins to lay eggs, then the woman is pregnant. What is a method of checking for pregnancy?

image;wikimedia

The most common frog used at the time for this test was the African Clawed Frog. Before the 1930s, this frog was only found in the southern part of Africa, but as people began to use it for pregnancy tests, it was shipped to laboratories all over the world. The frogs were kept in the lab until the 1970s when pregnancy tests were kits for easy use were invented and people could do their pregnancy test at home.

With this, the frogs were released into the wild allowing them to be found in almost every country and every continent. But while they released the frog, they also released something else with it. On the skin of the African Clawed frog, a fungus began to live on it known as the Chytrid Fungus. This fungus doesn't do anything to clawed frogs since they are immune to it but when the clawed frogs come in contact with another amphibian, they transfer it to them and this leads to an array of events including making their skin stronger, causing difficulty absorbing nutrients as well as difficulty releasing toxins, after which the amphibian's heart stops beating.

image;wikimedia

So just as they released millions of African Clawed Frogs into the wild, they released a fungus that was dangerous to the world. Soon, native frog colonies began to decline on every continent, and different frog species up to about 90 different species began to go extinct, about 500 different species of amphibian had about 90% of their species were wiped out, and about 30% of the world's amphibians suffered from the fungus infection.

Years have passed, and we are yet to get a full solution to the problem caused by us testing whether we were pregnant or not. Scientists have used antifungal treatments like itraconazole, as well as other forms of treatments like benzalkonium chloride, but we are yet to get a lasting solution.

After seeing this, I wonder what other problems we might be brewing without knowing now that would affect us in the future?

For Further Reading and Research

^{https://biologyinsights.com/frog-pregnancy-test-and-the-deadly-fungus-threat-to-amphibians/
https://www.conservationevidence.com/actions/882
https://www.the-scientist.com/chytrid-fungus-deploys-varying
https://www.zenhabitats.com/blogs/reptile-care-sheets-resources/what-is-chytridiomycosis
https://ourworld.unu.edu/en/scientists-make-breakthrough-on-deadly-amphibian-fungus
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/10/12/03-0804_article
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151118070801.htm}