Published Date: 2011-04-21 02:52:06
Subject: PRO/AH> White nose syndrome, bats - North America (03)
Archive Number: 20110421.1241

WHITE NOSE SYNDROME, BATS - NORTH AMERICA (03)
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International Society for Infectious Diseases
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Date: Wed 20 Apr 2011
From: David Thomson <thomson.david48@gmail.com> [edited]


I have very limited knowledge of hibernating, higher latitude bats.

Do we know whether the bats' immune systems 'hibernate' when the bats
do?

Do bats develop an immune response to WNS after exposure and
survival? If bats in Europe are infested with the same or a very
similar fungus and survive, it might boil down to a case of
creating/buying time and opportunities for the naive North American
bats to adapt to the presence of the fungus.

Whilst I appreciate concerns about applying fungicides to hibernacula
surroundings/environments, are there ways to apply them and/or
immune-modifiers safely and efficiently to the bats (such as,
micro-particulate formulations -- micro-mists or micro-dusts --
through which they must fly entering and leaving hibernacula/roosts)?

As an example, I recall from past work with control/eradication of
feral exotic bees, that there are some specialized (and expensive)
micro-particulate chemical formulations that were trialed to by
getting them onto the hairy external surface of target bees as they
frequented artificial feeding stations and then letting them transport
them transport back to the hive (before succumbing to the chemical)
where hive worker grooming and introduction into the hive food chain
would then deal with the hive. From memory they showed considerable
promise.

The issues with such an approach might be:
- can safe fungicides/immune-modifiers be formulated similarly?
- can such micro-particulate formulations be applied to the bats (for
example, will micro-particles actually stick to a bat on the wing,
rather than the bat slice through a mist or dust cloud of them without
picking them up due to laminar air flow close to wing and body
surfaces)?, and if so,
- will they end up being either toxic or systemically
active/effective if ingested by bats repeatedly during grooming?

--
David Thomson
Sub-regional Animal Health Specialist
Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Port Moresby
<thomson.david48@gmail.com>

[I am not a specialist regarding bats. However, I suspect that the
fungus plays some role in metabolism and the bats awake from
hibernation, perhaps because of hunger and are then seen flying at
inappropriate times. So by that time the bat has the disease and
flying through micro particles may be too late. Unless of course this
is a preventive and the bats can utilize such an approach prior to
being infected with the fungus?

I suspect the real answer is a bit more complicated. If there are
good scientific answers to the questions presented here, a response
would be appreciated. - Mod.TG]

See Also

White nose syndrome, bats - North America (02): (USA, Canada)
20110420.1229
White nose syndrome, bats - USA (03): (KY) 20110415.1178
White nose syndrome, bats - Canada: (ON) RFI 20110410.1129
White nose syndrome, bats - North America: (USA, Canada)
20110403.1034
White nose syndrome, bats - USA (02): (NC) 20110307.0748
White nose syndrome, bats - USA: (IN) 20110203.0394
2010
---
White nose syndrome, bats - USA (15) 20100808.2712
White nose syndrome, bats - USA (13): update 20100807.2678
White nose syndrome, bats - USA (10): (OK) 20100525.1732
White nose syndrome, bats - USA (08): (TN) 20100518.1630
White nose syndrome, bats - USA (07): (DE) 20100502.1421
White nose syndrome, bats - Canada:(QC) 20100426.1349
White nose syndrome, bats - USA (06): (MO, TN) 20100422.1300
White nose syndrome bats - USA (05): (NY) poss. Treatment
20100325.0949
White nose syndrome - Canada (02): (0N) 20100324.0946
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
White nose syndrome, bats - France: 1st identification, non-lethal
20100108.0091
.................................................tg/mj/sh