Due to the lack of confirmed field detection, most notably in Madagascar. The first expansive survey for the presence of Bd in Madagascar failed to detect this pathogen in 527 amphibians from 79 species sampled from 2005�C2006. To complement this effort, a follow-up survey of 300 animals from 53 species at 12 additional locations were sampled in 2006 and 2007, and a further 56 amphibians from 12 species were sampled in the country’s central highlands ; all results similarly demonstrated the absence of Bd in amphibians sampled despite covering a range of host species and environments, and employing the most sensitive diagnostic tool, the Bd-specific quantitative PCR assay. It is remarkable that Bd is not already widespread in Madagascar because the country possesses high diversity of amphibians likely to be susceptible to Coptisine-chloride chytridiomycosis, is in 
close proximity to regions of Bd presence in continental Africa, and provides high environmental suitability for Bd. Thousands of amphibians are exported annually from Madagascar and disseminated globally into the exotic pet trade. An analysis of records obtained from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service through a Freedom of Information Act request shows 39,020 amphibians were exported from Madagascar to the United States between 2006 and 2011, from at least 31 species. Although the international movement of amphibians is believed to help spread Bd and thus jeopardize global animal health, we considered access to traded animals a boon to our research goals: demonstration that trade can be approached as an efficient wildlife disease surveillance tool for the rapid detection of Bd in Madagascar. The commercial trade in amphibians generates large and diverse sample pools from which proactive surveillance can be performed with less human and financial resources than conventional field surveys. This investigation explored the presence of Bd in Madagascar by examining the contents of a shipment of wild-collected endemic amphibians exported Campesterol directly to the USA. The presence of Bd has been confirmed in Malagasy amphibians for the first time. These amphibians were collected from the wild for the pet trade, exported to the USA and sampled immediately upon arrival. One sample produced a strong signal for Bd presence, and two others displayed weak indications: MGSS30 and MGHA54. Despite the low intensities, these two samples certainly displayed positive signals and, most important from separate plates, suggesting the signals were real and not due to contamination from the positive controls. It is not uncommon for the standard controls to contaminate a single replicate, but to do so across multiple plates, has never been witnessed and is unlikely. After DNA purification, all three MGSS30 replicates were negative for Bd. This is perplexing and could suggest that the original DNA aliquot used in the first two plates was contaminated. However, it is also possible that the particular aliquot of DNA used in the final run did not actually contain Bd DNA, although it existed in the sample; MGSS30’s measured zoospore loads were incredibly low and give some credence to this possibility. MGHA54, like MGSS30, similarly never had all replicates within a single plate turn up positive.