White Nose Syndrome Update

About a month ago I wrote a post about the future for bats. One of the main things I covered was White Nose Syndrome which if you don't remember is a fungus that effects bats in some caves on the east coast of the U.S. Well today the Fish and Wildlife Service issued a press release talking about White Nose Syndrome.

The National Plan for Assisting States, Tribes and Federal Agencies in Managing White-Nose Syndrome in Bats provides a coordinated national management strategy for investigating the cause of the syndrome and finding a means to prevent the spread of the disease. The service considered approximately 17,000 comments received on the draft plan made available to the public in October 2010.

Since the syndrome was first documented, the service has been leading a national response that now includes more than 100 state and federal agencies, tribes, organizations and individuals.

Interior Department agencies have invested more than $10.8 million in this effort since 2007. This includes more than $3 million in research funding that is supporting ongoing research projects looking for methods to control or cure the disease.

For example, researchers working with the U.S. Geological Survey have identified Geomyces destructans, a fungus new to science, as the presumed causative agent.

In addition to research, the national response has also developed decontamination protocols to reduce the transmission of the fungus, surveillance strategies, and technical white-nose syndrome diagnostic procedures

They also launched a new site to keep the public up on the happenings of the fungus. Hopefully with public help/support we can stop the spread of this disease.