White Nose Syndrome in Bats Likened to AIDS in Humans

White nose syndrome threatens to decimate the Indiana bat, an endangered species.

Photo: Alan Hicks / NYSDEC

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Scientists have likened White Nose Syndrome, the mysterious malady that quickly spread across the U.S. and Canada, with devastating consequence for several bat species, to AIDS. Both human patients and the bats show "evidence of immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome," according to a hypothesis proposed by federal scientists with the Geologic Survey and the National Institutes of Health. They syndrome describes an overactive immune response, resulting in severe inflammation and tissue damage, after a period of immune suppression.

The fungus linked to White Nose Syndrome has already spread to at least 21 states and four Canadian provinces, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. Seven species have proved susceptible, but as many as 9 species diagnosed with white nose syndrome are endangered bats at risk of extinction. Already, that die-off has resulted in 700 fewer tons of insects consumed by the insectivorous bats, according to one study. That, in turn, could spur more farmers to use more toxic pesticides, since several bat species eat agricultural pests.

About 80% of bats in infected caves have died in the Northeast, where white noes syndrome has so far done the most damage.

In New York, several bat species have vanished completely from caves and mines where they were once abundant; and the little brown bat, once the most common species in the Northeast, could disappear from the region.

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