The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have teamed up in an effort to treat and prevent a fungal disease destroying bats in North America.
It's all thanks to a $2.5 million grant aimed at combating what's known as white-nose syndrome (WNS), according to a March 23 news release.
“Bats are vital to our planet’s ecosystem and biodiversity, and we are pleased that our research discoveries might drive development of a tool to advance the conservation of numerous bat species," Bruce Klein, professor of medical microbiology and immunology at UW-Madison, said in the release. "We’re also excited about the collaborative potential for this work to support the USGS, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and state agencies in their efforts to protect bats against the devastating impact of white-nose syndrome.”
According to the release, this project was one of six grants from the Partnership to Advance Conservation Science and Practice, which is a collaboration between the National Science Foundation and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. This partnership is worth $8 million in total. The money will be used to fund research primarily conducted at UW-Madison, to investigate a vaccine and FDA-approved receptor inhibitors that could potentially protect North American bats against the disease.
The National Park Service says WNS is a fungal infection that kills bats. Research found pseudogymnoascus destructans, which causes WNS, likely came from outside of the country and is believed to have been introduced from Europe. WNS was first noticed 17 years ago in New York and, in the following decade, spread to more than half of the U.S. and six Canadian provinces.
The USGS noted signs of WNS observed in the field include "excessive or unexplained mortality at a hibernaculum; visible white fungal growth on the muzzle or wings of live or freshly dead bats; abnormal daytime activity during winter months or movement toward hibernacula openings; and severe wing damage in bats that have recently emerged from hibernation. Infected bats experience a cascade of physiologic changes that result in weight loss, dehydration, electrolyte imbalances and death."
Tonie Rocke, a research epidemiologist for the USGS, partnered with Klein and others at UW–Madison to develop a vaccine to protect bats from white-nose syndrome. It has shown some promising signs in combating the disease in hibernating bats in some preliminary research, the release reported.
"Using FDA-approved drugs alongside our white-nose vaccine could enhance the response we saw in our vaccine trials, providing an additional tool for managing the disease in threatened bat populations," Rocke said in the release.
