Culprit Behind Bat Scourge Confirmed: Science in the News

from Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society Today’s Headlines - October 27, 2011 Culprit Behind Bat Scourge Confirmed from Nature News Researchers have confirmed that a recently identified fungus is responsible for white-nose syndrome, a deadly disease that is sweeping through bat colonies in eastern North America. The fungus, Geomyces destructans, infects the skin of hibernating bats, causing lesions on the animals’ wings and a fluffy white outgrowth on the muzzle. When white-nose syndrome takes hold of a hibernating colony, more than 90% of the bats can die. The disease was first documented in February 2006 in a cave in New York, and has spread to at least 16 other US states and four Canadian provinces. The culpability of G. destructans for this sudden outbreak was thrown into question when the fungus was found on healthy bats in Europe, where it is not associated with the grim mortality levels seen in North America. http://ow.ly/7aEKP

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