Japan's first case in the wild of a deadly fungus that has been wiping out frogs around the world has been confirmed just months after the fungus was detected in captive imported frogs, a team of scientists announced.

The scientists from Azabu University in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, and the National Institute for Environmental Studies said at a weekend conference that the case involving four American bullfrogs in Kanagawa Prefecture was detected as they examined 132 frogs and newts of 23 species that inhabit Japan as part of an initial study.

Out of the total, genetic traces of the parasitic fungus were detected in 42 of the amphibians, or 31.9 percent.