North American Bat Death Toll Exceeds 6 Million From White-nose Syndrome

[Shiloh]

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands

Source: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=879223

Bats suffering 90% death rate
Illness creates a 'sense of urgency'

By BRIAN NEARING, Staff writer
Last updated: 1:35 p.m., Thursday, December 17, 2009

ALBANY -- Since appearing more than two years ago in Albany County caves, a mysterious bat malady has reduced the bat populations in caves across three states by more than 90 percent, according to counts released Wednesday by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

The figures show the virulence linked to a fungal condition that wildlife researchers call "white nose syndrome," named for the white, fuzzy fungus found on the faces of afflicted bats. So far, there is no way to stop the spread of the illness, which leaves bats with too little body fat to survive winter hibernation.

In 23 caves surveyed, primarily in Albany and Schoharie counties, as well as four caves in Vermont and Massachusetts, about 4,800 bats were found last winter. That is down from surveys showing more than 55,000 bats for those same caves before the disease outbreak.

The figures include little brown bats, big brown bats and Indiana bats -- the last an endangered species.

"These numbers are about as bad as anyone could imagine," said Al Hicks, a DEC wildlife biologist. "It injects a sense of urgency to the matter. We don't have a lot of years to figure this out. If things continue at this rate, we will be in trouble."

Hicks and other state researchers visited the caves, taking pictures of tightly massed hibernating bats and counting each individual. He said the counts were based on at least 1,000 photographs.

Bats return to their caves to hibernate in the fall and, once gathered, are at risk of being exposed to the fungus again this winter. "We are gearing up now to get back into the caves and see what bats are in there," said Hicks.

Since being detected in Albany County caves in February 2007, white nose syndrome has spread to Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, and claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of bats. It is not clear whether the fungus is a cause of death or appears only after the bats' health is compromised by some other ailment.

With too little fat to survive the winter and roused from hibernation by starvation, bats sometimes leave caves during winter in a fruitless search for insects to eat.

New York's bat survey, which is the first multi-state survey to be released, is "not unexpected, but very disappointing and depressing," said Jeremy Coleman, national white nose syndrome coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

He said researchers are looking at possible fungal treatments to help cleanse caves where bats hibernate, and are also examining genetic differences between European bats, which seem less susceptible to the malady, and American bats.

"Right now, this fungus looks like an invasive (species) that was introduced," said Coleman. "It was not found previously anywhere in North America, and was somehow introduced here from another location. It is something that our bats never had to deal with before."

Caves in New York and other infected states have been closed to recreational cavers in an attempt to reduce the spread of the fungus. Federal officials are also advising that caves in states where the malady has not yet surfaced, like Ohio and Kentucky, also be closed to protect bats.

Brian Nearing can be reached at 454-5094 or at bnearing@timesunion.com.

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=879223#ixzz0Zyf9xeVA

 

[Jojo]

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands

Maybe the insects they feed on carried into harming chems/gmo which disrupted the bats immune system and make it colapsing after the starving wintering period in the caves.

This was my first thought as I read this thread. I would much prefer a mosquito die-off. its December and I'm still being pestered by them:surrender:

 

[Shiloh]

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands

Source: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/82664237.html?viewAll=y

Posted on Tue, Jan. 26, 2010


Solving the mystery of the dying bats (Pennsylvania)

By Sandy Bauers
Inquirer Staff Writer

Deep in a cave in Mifflin County, Pa., surrounded by icicles and tilted slabs of rock, DeeAnn Reeder shone her headlamp on a tiny bat.

It was dead.

Cradling it in gloved hands, she stretched out its wings, fanned out its minuscule toes, and examined its snout.

"I've seen worse," Reeder whispered, "but, boy . . . he's just covered in fungus."

The Bucknell biology professor studied the bat. She knew it was white-nose syndrome, first discovered three years ago in a cave near Albany, N.Y. Bats that should have been hibernating inside were dead on the ground outside.

Since then, a million bats have died in the Northeast. Some caves have had 99 percent mortality.

In a growing what-done-it mystery, white-nose spread last year to Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

The latest models predict the little brown bat, the most numerous in the nation, could be extinct in 7 to 30 years.

"That's incredibly fast," said Greg Turner, the Pennsylvania Game Commission's endangered-mammal specialist. "Unprecedented is the word."

"Humans have done a pretty good job of killing a lot of animals, like the buffalo," he said, "but nothing like this has ever been recorded. It's pretty bleak. That's the only way to say it."

The bat decline echoes that of the world's frogs. And colony collapse disorder among honeybees.

Some suggest links to pesticides or cascading effects of an altered environment.

White-nose isn't just about bats. It's also about bugs.

A lactating female can eat her body weight in insects in a single night. Scientists estimate the million bats lost so far would have eaten 694 tons of insects just last year.

Their diet includes crop pests and mosquitoes, which can spread West Nile disease and equine encephalitis.

Many of the bats so widespread in the summer here - living in attics, barns, and steeples - winter in caves such as the one in Mifflin County, said Scott Bearer, a bat expert with the Nature Conservancy, which owns the cave.

"Bats have a real value in the environment. This is an ecological disaster," said Jeremy Coleman, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's national white-nose syndrome coordinator. "If we lose them, I suspect that people will learn to appreciate them too late."

Last Thursday, the national nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity filed emergency petitions asking the U.S. government to close all federal caves because humans entering them without disinfecting their gear possibly could spread the fungus. The center also asked that two of the less-common species affected be listed for protection under the Endangered Species Act.

"I think Pennsylvania bats are done," Reeder said.

White-nose affects six of the state's eight species. "Big browns will probably be OK. Our tree bats will probably be OK," she said. "Everybody else is going to go."


A mysterious killer

Researchers still know little about white-nose.

It wasn't until April 2008 that David Blehert, a U.S. Geological Survey microbiologist, isolated the fungus as a hitherto unknown member of the Geomyces genus. He named it destructans - for what it was doing to the bats.

They still don't know if the fungus itself is the killer. It could be a contributing factor or a symptom.

But Blehert said it caused severe skin lesions in bats - an obvious liability.

Bats, like other hibernating mammals, often rouse during the winter. One theory is that they're rebooting their immune systems.

But white-nose bats are inexplicably rousing too often and for too long, depleting their fat reserves. Starving, they leave the cave to find food. But the insects they need aren't there in winter.

In Pennsylvania, more than 13 sites in six counties are infected with white-nose.

In New Jersey, white-nose was found last year in the state's three most populous sites - all to the north - and two other sites.

Mick Valent, principal zoologist with the state Department of Environmental Protection, suspects the number is higher.

Last year, large-scale bat deaths didn't occur until February. So officials in both states are bracing for more.


Counting bats

Turner and Bearer didn't want to add to that casualty list. But the researchers knew their very presence in the cave might cause harm by rousing the bats from hibernation.

So they decided to enter just once this year. "We'll get this one snapshot," Bearer said.

Aiming their headlamps, Turner and Bearer would spend the next few hours crawling and slithering through a mile of passages, counting every bat they saw.

Back toward the cave entrance, Reeder and two graduate students processed bats they had collected.

Researchers are frantically gathering blood and DNA samples, both for current studies and as a potential record of the fungus' spread.

The Smithsonian Institution is serving as a national archive of data and corpses.

In the cave, Reeder's students weighed each bat and measured its forearm to determine body mass index.

Sarah Brownlee of Coopersburg put a female into a small brown bag and set it on a portable scale. It was 6.4 grams - less than a quarter ounce.

Reeder flinched. "God, they're small."

Later, however, another female weighed 8.2 grams. "A nice fat girl," Reeder said. "That's what we like to see."

The students clipped hair between each bat's shoulder blades, then glued on a data-logger, smaller than a dime.

Programmed to record the bat's temperature every 10 minutes, they might show whether there was a pattern to arousal cycles.

Brownlee has set up motion-sensitive infrared cameras in caves to record what the bats do when they rouse. Are they grooming off the fungus, consuming even more energy?

Back at Bucknell, Laura Grieneisen of Carlisle will place the bats in a box with one end cooler than the other. She hopes to show which temperatures the white-nose bats prefer and whether that's different from healthy bats.

So far, no one has found a treatment, although they are investigating potential vaccines and a spray that contains an ingredient from a drug for athlete's foot. They plan to dose bats in Bucks County's Durham Mine with antifungal vapors.

Last fall, Congress approved $1.9 million for white-nose research. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has dedicated funds along with states and private groups including Bat Conservation International and the National Speleological Society, a caving group.

It's not nearly enough, Reeder said. "We need money to do the assays. I need bodies out in the field."

It's a race against time. "I view this thing like a wildfire that's just blowing so hot and so fast across the country," she said. "We've got to figure out, do we do a firebreak?"

So far, white-nose has not spread west of the Allegheny Front - a continental divide roughly along the I-99 corridor in Western Pennsylvania.

If they find a treatment, they can target bat caves along this line - or wherever else makes sense at the time.

The problem is, the bats go where they go, some migrating hundreds of miles.

One ray of hope has come with the recent discovery of the fungus in a cave in France. It lends credence to the hypothesis that bats in Europe, perhaps similarly decimated long ago, developed an immunity.


The bat cave

Turner and Bearer finally emerged from the cave, mud-covered and bruised from the jagged rocks and tight spaces.

Last year, there had been 4,100 bats. This year, just 750. About 82 percent had died.

"Unfortunately, that's good," Turner said. It wasn't 99 percent, as in other caves.

The researchers trooped wearily back to their cars, a quarter mile along a snowy slope above a frozen stream.

An hour later, in a basement lab posted "Bucknell bat cave," Reeder's students transferred the bats to cages.

Many were motionless, still in a torpor. Others crawled about groggily.

"OK, ladies," Brownlee said, carrying a cage toward a huge cooler, calibrated to mimic conditions in the cave.

Infected with fungus, the bats will likely die soon. But perhaps not before they help the researchers uncover more of their secrets.



Contact staff writer Sandy Bauers at 215-854-5147 or sbauers@phillynews.com.

 

[Shiloh]

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands

Source: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100218/NEWS01/2180346/2066/NEWS03

Bat disease could wipe out huge ally in Tenn. agriculture
By Anne Paine ? THE TENNESSEAN ? February 18, 2010


A mysterious fungus that has wiped out entire bat colonies in parts of the eastern U.S., has arrived in Tennessee, prompting worries about how a loss of insect-eating bat populations could affect everything from farming to the increased spread of West Nile virus.

Two bats that died during hibernation in Worley's Cave, also called Morril's Cave, in Sullivan County have tested positive for the highly contagious white-nose syndrome.

The losses that could follow as it spreads could eclipse the estimated 1 million bat deaths over three years from New York state southward, according to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

That's because Tennessee has more than 9,600 caves, and, unlike in the Northeast, some here can host hibernating colonies of 100,000 bats or more each winter.

 

[tropical]

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands

Or there is no real willing to find the root of the problem and resolve it,
or the ghost is out for the bats as for other past organisms species perished in the 19-20 centuries after milions/etc. years of healthy living on earth (thanks humans assistance).

This sentence:
#48:
"have tested positive for the highly contagious white-nose syndrome"

seems to confirm that the infection came from the fungus itself?


But from previous posts in this thread:

""Here are two examples where you need all this information, but until now, no one saw any apparent benefit to doing the research," she said. "It's especially relevant with parasites because we have hundreds of examples where they are vectors of diseases, but we have no idea with what frequency parasites occur on bats, potentially carrying pathogens from bat to bat. We need to do basic research and should always remember that many great discoveries were made purely by serendipity.""

"Tuttle doesn?t view the bat die-off as an isolated incident. Recently, scientists have been baffled by the unexplained disappearance of millions of commercial honeybees, a phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder, and a few years ago scientists reported that a strange new fungus that kills frogs, toads and other species of amphibians was spreading around the globe."

 

[Shiloh]

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands

The disease has made it's way to Canada...
Source: http://www.thespec.com/News/CanadaWorld/article/740241

Bats in Ontario found to have deadly disease

March 20, 2010
The Canadian Press
TORONTO (Mar 20, 2010)

A mysterious illness that has killed upwards of 500,000 bats in the northeastern United States has now been detected in the animals in Ontario.

The Ministry of Natural Resources is confirming the first case of bats with a disease known as white-nose syndrome in the Bancroft-Minden area...

 

[Farmer]

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands

/snip/
This sentence:
#48:
"have tested positive for the highly contagious white-nose syndrome"

seems to confirm that the infection came from the fungus itself?

The fungus is associated with the syndrome (loss of body weight, abnormal breaks in hibernation that cause the bats to be active in times of no food, mass colony die-offs, etc.) but is not known to be causitive. So far, no causitive agent has been identified.

They apparently use the term 'contagious' loosely due to the rapid geographic spread of the syndrome.

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands

WHITE NOSE SYNDROME BATS - USA (05): (NEW YORK) POSSIBLE TREATMENT
******************************************************************

Date: 22 Mar 2010

Source: Science News
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/gen...ot_therapy_tapped_to_treat_bat-killing_fungus


Athlete's foot therapy tapped to treat bat-killing fungus
---------------------------------------------------------
Over the past 4 years, a mysterious white-nose fungus [responsible
for the White Nose Syndrome (WNS) - Mod.TG] has struck hibernating
North American bats. Populations in affected caves and mines can
experience death rates of more than 80 percent over a winter. In
desperation, an informal interagency task force of scientists from
state and federal agencies has just launched an experimental program
to fight the plague. Their weapon: a drug ordinarily used to treat
athlete's foot.

John Eisemann of the Agriculture Department's Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service, better known as APHIS, in Fort Collins, Colorado,
mentioned the new program during his talk, here, at the American
Chemical Society's spring national meeting. He was describing legal
tactics by which wildlife officials can thwart invasive vertebrate
species with off-the-shelf chemicals.

He noted, for instance, how scientists have used a contraceptive
vaccine -- one designed to control white-tail deer populations -- on
rodents. It offered a nonlethal approach to reining in the population
explosion of non-native fox squirrels on a University of California
campus. In another instance, wildlife managers employed a cholesterol
inhibiting drug to reduce sex hormone levels -- and the urge to
reproduce -- among invasive monk parakeets. And on Guam, Eisemann's
team designed special traps baited with neonatal mouse carcasses.
Each bait had been implanted with a child's dose of acetaminophen,
the active ingredient in Tylenol. It proved amazingly effective in
strategically poisoning a major scourge, invasive brown tree snakes
-- and only that species.

The bat task force enlisted Eisemann's help to make sure that
whatever they tried would be legal. He's the go-to guy for
identifying what permissions, waivers or requests are required before
wildlife managers can apply poisons or anti-fertility drugs. The Food
and Drug Administration allows for some off-label use of an existing
drug as a veterinary prescription. And that's the tactic he arranged
for the task force to use with the athlete's foot drug.

Theoretically, Eisemann says, it should have been possible for
scientists to apply to get the chemical officially registered -- as
in approved -- for use on bats. But with the disease spreading like
wildfire and the potential market for a white-nose therapeutic tiny,
the time and expense didn't seem feasible.

Afraid of upsetting the ecological balance of endemic fungi in caves,
the scientists decided to pilot test the program in already perturbed
and disturbed environments -- a few mines in upstate New York.
Earlier this year, the researchers applied the antifungal medicine
onto the noses of several hundred bats. It killed the fungus,
Eisemann says. Now the goal is to see if and how it might have
affected the treated colonies' die-off rate, since only a small share
of any population had their noses rubbed with the antifungal drug.

Indeed, the scientists are hoping they might not need to treat the
entire colony. "If there's enough communal grooming," Eisemann said,
"they may only need to treat a certain percentage of the bats."

[Byline: Janet Raloff]



[While there still seem to be many unknowns, it looks like there may
be a glimmer of hope to control this disease that is having such an
impact on the bat populations. - Mod.TG]

http://www.promedmail.org/pls/otn/f..._BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,81915

 

[Shiloh]

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands - Possible treatment

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands - Possible treatment

Source: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/04/fungus_kills_90_percent_of_nj.html

Fungus kills 90 percent of N.J. bat population, scientists say
By The Associated Press
April 03, 2010, 1:45PM

HACKENSACK ? A fungus has killed off about 90 percent of the state's bat population, according to scientists who recently conducted a count of hibernating bats.

The devastation was shocking in the largest hibernation spot for bats in New Jersey ? Morris County's Hibernia Mine. As many as 30,000 bats normally spend the winter, but a recent count found only about 1,700 alive ? and many of those showed signs of infection, said Mick Valent, principal zoologist with the state's Endangered and Non-game Species Program.

"The results we had from Hibernia Mine were certainly not good news," Valent said...

 

[Emily]

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands - Possible treatment

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands - Possible treatment

Just read that on the west coast there is a fungal epidemic affecting Douglas fir trees. The article relates it to climate change plus the planting of the species in monocultures by the timber industry. There are environmental concerns in using fungicides, so they may alter tree farming practices in response.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100405152557.htm

Forests at Risk: Swiss Needle Cast Epidemic in Douglas-Fir Trees Unprecedented, Still Getting Worse

ScienceDaily (Apr. 5, 2010) ? The Swiss needle cast epidemic in Douglas-fir forests of the coastal Pacific Northwest is continuing to intensify, appears to be unprecedented over at least the past 100 years, and is probably linked to the extensive planting of Douglas-fir along the coast and a warmer climate, new research concludes.

Scientists in the College of Forestry at Oregon State University have also found that this disease, which is affecting hundreds of thousands of acres in Oregon and Washington and costing tens of millions of dollars a year in lost growth, can affect older trees as well as young stands -- in some cases causing their growth to almost grind to a halt.

The newest findings were just published in Forest Ecology and Management, a professional journal.

Swiss needle cast is a native fungal disease specific to Douglas-fir that was first described in Europe. It rarely kills trees but causes discoloration, loss of needles and growth reduction, and is common in the Pacific Northwest wherever Douglas-fir grows. However, it caused significant problems only in recent decades along the coast.

Starting in 1984, an epidemic began to develop, and it significantly worsened after 1996.

"It's now clear that this epidemic is a new phenomenon, with far more severity and impact than anything we've observed from Swiss needle cast in the past," said Dave Shaw, an assistant professor at OSU and director of a cooperative designed to fight this disease. "We've known of this disease for decades but it was considered a non-issue in terms of forest health. A perfect storm of conditions that favor this fungus has caused a major epidemic that is still growing."............

Since some bats are resistant to the fungus, I wonder if it might be best to let the others die off without fungicide intervention? I suppose that could create an evolutionary bottleneck which happened with the Tasmanian Devil, and that is thought to have made them vulnerable to the transmissible cancer. (Dogs are the other species that has a transmissible cancer, and they have been highly inbred, or their ancestors might have had a genetic bottleneck that spawned that cancer when a population was dramatically reduced by natural factors.)

 

[Shiloh]

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands - Possible treatment

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands - Possible treatment

Source: http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2528217

Bat ailment found in Flesherton (Ontario, Canada)
Posted By Don Crosby
Posted 7 hours ago


Grey County has been invaded by a rare fungus linked to the death of more than a million bats in the northeastern United States.

Evidence was uncovered in four dead bats found near Flesherton in early March.

The fungus itself doesn't kill bats, but it is believed to be linked to what is called white nose syndrome, which leaves the bats looking like their snouts have been dusted with flour. The cause of death is still unknown...

 

[Shiloh]

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands - Possible treatment

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands - Possible treatment

Source: http://www.theenterprisebulletin.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2532805

MNR keeping eye on spread of bat disease (Ontario, Canada)
Posted By
Posted 0 sec ago


Bats can eat up to three times their body weight each night.

White nose syndrome was first discovered in bats in Albany, N.Y. in the winter of 2006 and has since spread to 11 states. It typically kills between 80% and 99% of the bats in a hibernation area.

Of the eight species of bats in Ontario, white nose syndrome affects the five cave-dwelling species that hibernate during the winter. The little brown bat appears to be the most susceptible.

The remaining three species are migratory bats that spend the winter in Central and South America.

"The three species that migrate aren't known to be affected by white nose syndrome," said Dungavell.

The fungus is thought to be native to Europe where it's found among the bat population but isn't linked to deaths...

 

[Shiloh]

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands - Possible treatment

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands - Possible treatment

Source: http://www.acorn-online.com/joomla1...4-outlook-for-connecticuts-bats-is-bleak.html

Outlook for Connecticut?s bats is bleak

Written by Dennis Schain
Tuesday, 20 April 2010 09:28

Snip:

...Jenny Dickson, DEP Supervising wildlife biologist, said, ?White Nose Syndrome continues to have a catastrophic effect on bats. Just three short years ago, one of Connecticut?s largest hibernacula had over 3,300 wintering bats. This year fewer than a dozen remain ? all but one showed active signs of WNS. The outlook for their survival is grim.?

The DEP says visits to other winter hibernacula ? caves and mines where bats hibernate ? revealed similar mortality rates. Another large site showed a 95% decline in bat numbers since a winter count in 2007. The only positive note from the 2010 surveys was that only three of the remaining bats at that site showed visible signs of the fungus.

Ms. Dickson also noted that WNS continues to take a devastating toll in the nearby states of New York, Massachusetts, and Vermont, where a significant percentage of the state?s bat population hibernates for the winter....

 

[Shiloh]

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands - Possible treatment

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands - Possible treatment

Source: http://wjz.com/wireapnewsmd/Fungus.associated.with.2.1666689.html

Apr 30, 2010 12:42 pm US/Eastern
Bat Fungus Found In Delaware
DOVER, Del. (AP) ― State wildlife officials says a fungus associated with a disease fatal to bats has been found in Delaware...
...Officials said Friday that the fungus has been found at two summer roosting site in New Castle County...

 

[Missouriwatcher]

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands - Possible treatment

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands - Possible treatment

"Fungus that is fatal to bats foils cave lovers in Missouri

Caves in most Missouri state parks will be closed for at least a few months to try to curb a fungus that has killed more than 1 million bats...

The state park system?s four major tour caves that will remain open are Onondaga Cave and Cathedral Cave at Onondaga Cave State Park, Fisher Cave at Meramec State Park, and Ozark Caverns at Lake of the Ozarks State Park, DNR officials said....

After discovering the fungus-infected bat last month, the Missouri Department of Conservation closed its more than 240 caves that already had limited entry. A year ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, anticipating the advancing fungus, ordered its Mark Twain National Forest caves closed..."

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/05/05/1927382/fungus-fatal-to-bats-foils-missouri.html#ixzz0n9zLQ064

 

[tropical]

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands - Possible treatment

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands - Possible treatment

"After discovering the fungus-infected bat last month, the Missouri Department of Conservation closed its more than 240 caves that already had limited entry. A year ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, anticipating the advancing fungus, ordered its Mark Twain National Forest caves closed...""


complete impotence of today's hightech human scientific biotechs to treat or prevent an animal fungal disease one year after ...

 

[Farmer]

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands - Possible treatment

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands - Possible treatment

Now reported in Oklahoma and Missouri.


Date: Tue, 18 May 2010 17:04:48 -0400 (EDT)
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promed.isid.harvard.edu>
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> White nose syndrome, bats - USA (09): (OK, MO)

WHITE NOSE SYNDROME, BATS - USA (09): (OKLAHOMA, MISSOURI)
***********************************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>

In this update:
[1] Oklahoma
[2] Oklahoma
[3] Missouri

[The following messages were forwarded to ProMED by Angie McIntire of
the Arizona Game & Fish Department, <AMcIntire@azgfd.gov>. - Mod.MHJ]

******
[1] Oklahoma
Date: 14 May 2010
From: Richard Stark


A cave myotis _Myotis velifer_ collected from the James Selman Cave
system in Woodward County, Oklahoma, has tested POSITIVE for
_Geomyces destructans_. _G. destructans_ is the fungus associated
with white-nose syndrome. Anne Ballman, a Wildlife Disease Specialist
with the USGS National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, WI just
called to notify me. The bat was collected by a graduate student
working for the Oklahoma Biological Survey on 3 May 2010.

The lab initially ran a PCR test which was positive for _G.
destructans_. Follow-up genetic sequencing confirmed the find is a
100 percent match for _G. destructans_. However, the pattern of
infection was not consistent with white-nose syndrome observed on
bats from the eastern U.S., nor were characteristic conidia observed
to assist in identifying the fungus observed. This means that the bat
is harboring the _G. destructans_ fungus, but should only be
considered "suspect positive" for WNS. The cave will now be
considered contaminated with the _G. destructans_ fungus. We will
need to communicate this finding with our partners to ensure that the
cave is closed to human visitation.

This is the 1st known record of _G. destructans_ in Region 2. This is
an extremely interesting find because _Myotis velifer_ is not known
from the eastern United States
(<http://www.mnh.si.edu/mna/image_info.cfm?species_id=203>).

- --
Richard Stark
Fish and Wildlife Biologist
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Oklahoma Ecological Services
9014 East 21st Street
Tulsa, OK 74129
<http://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/oklahoma>

[To find the James Selman Cave system, go to:
<http://www.wildlifedepartment.com/BatWatchWeb/Directions.html>. - Mod.MHJ]

******
[2] Oklahoma
Date: 14 May 2010
From: Dixie Birch


Richard Hatcher is the Director of the Oklahoma Department of
Wildlife Conservation (ODWC), and we just spoke about closing the
cave to public access and possibly issuing a joint press release
early next week. Mr. Hatcher tells me that the cave is not generally
open to the public.

This situation has a number of unusual circumstances associated with
it. 1st, this is the 1st detection of possible WNS in the cave myotis
species. It is the 1st detection of possible WNS in Region 2 or in
Oklahoma, and this represents the most western detection of WNS in
the United States. This raises concerns for other bat species
throughout the states in Region 2. Richard Stark provides a link
above that will show you the range of cave myotis.

We believe that this makes the 13th state where WNS has been found in
the United States.

- --
Dixie L. Birch, Ph.D.
Field Supervisor/Project Leader
Oklahoma Ecological Services Field Office
9014 E. 21st Street
Tulsa, OK 74129
<dixie_birch@fws.gov>


******
[3] Missouri
Date: 14 May 2010
From: Dena Matteson


Officials at Ozark National Scenic Riverways have announced the
closure of all caves in the park effective immediately. On 2 May
2010, bat researchers from Missouri State University found an
infectious fungus in 5 gray bats netted just outside a cave in
Shannon County, Missouri. The bats tested positive in a genetics test
for the _Geomyces destructans_ fungus, which causes White-Nose
Syndrome (WNS). Scars on their wings were a clue that the bats
probably were infected over the winter, when the fungus grows on the
bats' faces and skin during hibernation. The cool, damp conditions in
many caves provide an environment in which the fungus thrives.

WNS is a serious disease that has been responsible for the deaths of
over one million bats since its discovery in New York in 2006. The
1st occurrence in Missouri, the 12th state to document the disease,
was discovered in Pike County in April 2010. Six bat species were
known to be vulnerable, but the recent find is the 1st known case in
Shannon County and the 1st case in the federally endangered gray bat.

The westward spread of WNS is believed to occur primarily through
bat-to-bat contact but might also be transmitted on the clothes and
gear of humans who have visited an infected cave. Closing bat caves
to human entry reduces human disturbance of bats, which exacerbates
the mortality rate caused by WNS, and reduces the risk of possible
human-borne transmission. WNS does not infect other animals or humans.

The 4 biologists who discovered the infected bats are graduate
students supervised by Dr. Lynn Robbins at Missouri State University
and are conducting a bat research project supported by a grant from
the National Park Service. They had obtained netting permits from the
Missouri Department of Conservation, National Park Service, and U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service for that purpose.

The cave, owned by the Missouri Department of Conservation, is on the
Current River within the boundaries of Ozark National Scenic
Riverways. The name and location are withheld to avoid disturbance of
the cave, which contains many natural resources and several species
of bats. A cave gate on the entrance prevents trespassers from entering.

Ozark Riverways protects over 300 caves within its boundaries. Access
to several of these has previously been restricted in order to
protect fragile resources and ecosystems. Due to WNS, the park is
exercising caution in managing activities that impact caves and bats.
Park Superintendent Reed Detring has determined that WNS is an
imminent threat to the cave bats in the park, and every effort should
be made to prevent or slow its spread.

The park is asking visitors to observe all closures and to avoid
other caves or passages of caves that may contain hibernating
populations of bats.

Round Spring Caverns will remain open to public tours at this time,
although the park will implement screening measures and precautions
designed to reduce the risk of human transmission of WNS. Visitors
should decontaminate all clothing, footwear, and gear upon exiting
any cave in order to reduce the possibility of transmitting the
disease. For more information regarding decontamination of clothing
and cave gear, please visit:
<http://www.fws.gov/northeast/white_nose.html>,
<http://www.fws.gov/northeast/white_nose.html>.

According to Detring, this new policy will be reviewed regularly as
new information about the spread of WNS becomes available. "The
park's biologists have been working diligently to gather information
about WNS since its discovery and to assess the cave resources at
Ozark Riverways. We are using the best scientific data at hand to
make decisions about our future management actions in this situation.
We will continue to gather information and cooperate with other
entities in order to protect these valuable resources."

The discovery of WNS in Missouri, a state with more than 6300 caves,
is troubling to the state's leading cave resource experts. "Missouri
is home to at least 12 species of bats," explained Missouri
Department of Conservation Cave Biologist Bill Elliott. "They are our
front-line defense against many insect pests including some moths,
certain beetles and mosquitoes. Insect pests can cause extensive
forest and agricultural damage. Missouri's 775 000 gray bats alone
eat more than 223 billion bugs a year, or about 540 tons. They also
play a vital role in cave ecosystems, providing nutrients for other
cave life through their droppings, or guano, and are food for other
animals such as snakes and owls."

The National Park Service will join other resource agencies in June
2010 to begin work on a comprehensive Statewide White-Nose Syndrome
Action Plan to address management of this issue.

- --
Communicated by:
Angela McIntire <AMcIntire@azgfd.gov>

[Our thanks to Angie. Members are encouraged to visit the White Nose
Syndrome Page: <http://www.caves.org/WNS/>.

To find Shannon County, in SE OK, go to:
<http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/missouri.gif>.
Ozark National; Scenic Riverways:
<http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/national_parks/ozark_park99.pdf>. - Mod.MHJ]

[see also:
White nose syndrome, bats - USA (08): (TN) 20100518.1630
White nose syndrome bats - USA (05): (NY) poss. treatment 20100325.0949
White nose syndrome - Canada: (ON) 1st report 20100322.0905
White nose syndrome bats - USA (04): (MD) 20100321.0896
White nose syndrome bats - USA (03): (WV) 20100225.0626
White nose syndrome bats - USA (02): (TN) 20100219.0570
White nose syndrome, bats - USA: (VT) 20100209.0438]
.................mpp/mhj/msp/mpp

 

[Shiloh]

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands - Possible treatment

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands - Possible treatment

Now in Quebec
Source: http://www.montrealgazette.com/tech...+North+American+bats+dying/3084749/story.html

White-nose syndrome: North American bats are dying
By Hannah Hoag, Special to The Gazette May 28, 2010 8:02 PM

MONTREAL ? In March, Fr?d?rick Leli?vre found himself crawling through a narrow passage into the final chamber of the Lafl?che Cave in Val des Monts. Raising his eyes to the hibernating bats on the rock above him, his heart dropped. The tiny lime-size animals were dusted with a white powdery substance. Most of them had it on their muzzles, and it was on the wings and the feet of others. It wasn?t a good sign.

Wildlife biologists in the United States have come across similar sights over the last four years. Since 2006, a strange new fungus has been spreading through bat roosts, from New Hampshire to Oklahoma, leaving a grisly mess of rotting bat carcasses and toothpick-size bones in its wake.

Until recently, the fungus had remained south of the border. But by March, the illness ? dubbed white-nose syndrome ? had spread to Ontario as well as Quebec.

Despite the scene before him, Leli?vre clung to the faint hope that this was something different. Unlike the bat hibernacula in the U.S., the Lafl?che Cave wasn?t littered with carcasses.

?We looked at many, many bats, and we found the mould on them, but we found only a few dead bats,? says Leli?vre, a biologist at the Quebec Department of Natural Resources and Wildlife.

Leli?vre sent whole bats to the Centre qu?b?cois sur la sant? des animaux sauvages at the Universit? de Montr?al faculty of veterinary medicine in St. Hyacinthe for necropsies to look more closely at the bats' condition. Skin samples taken during the necropsy were then sent to the National Wildlife Health Centre in Madison, Wis., where a genetic test was used to identify the fungus. Both studies are necessary for diagnosis.

Andr? Dallaire, a veterinary pathologist, studied the animals ? outside and in ? for signs of the infection. The fungus looks like ?what you?d see if you had a piece of bread that you left too long on the countertop,? he says. Some of the bats he examined were emaciated, having burned though their body fat and muscle to try to stay alive.

By mid-April, Leli?vre had received word that the bats from the Outaouais area cave carried the same fungus as those in the U.S.

?I was very worried. I thought, ?Oh, no! Are we also going to lose our bat populations?? ? says Leli?vre.

More than one million bats have died in the U.S. In some hibernacula, 90 to 100 per cent of the bats have been reduced to a pile of bones. Aeolus Cave in East Dorset, Vt., ? the largest hibernaculum in New England ? once held an estimated 300,000 bats, says Scott Darling, a wildlife biologist with the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department. Now about one-tenth of the initial population remains.

The loss of so many bats has ramifications for humans and the ecosystem.

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/tech...n+bats+dying/3084749/story.html#ixzz0pHXHoijU

 

[tropical]

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands - Possible treatment

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands - Possible treatment

As already presumed, without some cure,
the disease tresspassed all borders to kill further,
no human sci special help used for the bats.

at this point,
this thread could freely cut off the last part of its name,
the " - Possible treatment"

 

[Shiloh]

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands - Possible treatment

Re: USA: Bats Die by the Thousands - Possible treatment

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39290633/ns/technology_and_science-science/


Mysterious bat-killing disease appears harmless in Europe
Researchers confirmed presence of fungus associated with white-nose syndrome in living German, Swiss and Hungarian bats

By Wynne Parry
updated 9/21/2010 1:01:35 PM ET

Almost four years after bats in the Eastern United States began awakening from their winter slumber only to die en masse, the mechanism by which the so-called white-nose syndrome kills remains a mystery. The fungus associated with it, however, appears to have a European connection, scientists now say.

Reports of European bats sporting the white puffs of fungi on their muzzles, which are the signature of white-nose syndrome in the United States, date back to the early 1980s. But no one paid much attention, because it was not associated with mass mortalities, according to Gudrun Wibbelt, a veterinary pathologist with the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin...