An Arizona bat was recently confirmed positive for fungus that causes an often deadly disease in species that hibernate throughout the country.
Angie McIntire, a bat specialist with the state Game and Fish Department, said the concern is focused especially on bats that huddle close together in caves where the fungus thrives.
“The cave myotis is the species that this positive fungal finding was made,” said McIntire. “And that's the species that we're actually seeing implications from the disease in New Mexico and Texas and some of the colonies are starting to reportedly be in decline.”
McIntire explained that the fuzzy, white fungal growth that appears on an infected bat often wakes them and burns up their fat stores too early, ultimately killing them.
About half of the bat species in the state hibernate over the winter, according to McIntire, and there’s no way to tell how they’d react to the fungus, which originated in Europe before traveling to the U.S. like an invasive species.
She added that, due to their small size and often elusive nature, “it would be really difficult to vaccinate bats, in the way that I think about how that could be done. If you try to do something, you know, maybe to spray the cave to eliminate the fungus, well, then you're really disrupting all the cave life.”
McIntire said that while it’s possible for people to spread the fungus on things like hiking gear or shoes, bats are the main carriers. And even then: “The fungus doesn't depend on bats, but once it's in a cave system, it can accumulate on bats as they’re trying to hibernate.”
While she says researchers continue to work on a solution, the most they can do is watch colonies for outbreaks.
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