White nose syndrome

White-nose syndrome (WNS) is an emerging disease in North American bats which by 2012 was associated with at least 5.7 million bat deaths. The condition is named for a distinctive fungal growth around the muzzles and on the wings of hibernating bats and was first identified from a February 2006 photo taken in a cave in Schoharie County, New York. It has rapidly spread. By 2016, the fungus had been found in caves and mines of 29 states throughout the Northeastern US and 5 eastern Canadian provinces. In March 2016, it reached the West Coast, when it was confirmed in a little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) in the state of Washington and in April 2017, it was found in several bat species in Texas, bringing the total number of infected states to 33.

The disease is caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans, which colonizes the bat's skin. No obvious treatment or means of preventing transmission is known, and some species have declined >90% within five years of the disease reaching a site.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has called for a moratorium on caving activities in affected areas and strongly recommends to decontaminate clothing or equipment in such areas after each use. The National Speleological Society maintains an up-to-date page to keep cavers apprised of current events and advisories.

As of 2012^[update] white-nose syndrome was estimated to have caused at least 5.7 million to 6.7 million bat deaths in North America. In 2008 bats declined in some caves by more than 90%, Alan Hicks with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation described the impact in 2008 as "unprecedented" and "the gravest threat to bats...ever seen." In 2016, it was reported that bat populations in the caves and mines of Georgia had been decimated in a similar fashion, after the fungus was first detected in there in 2013.

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