Geomyces destructans associated with bat disease WNS detected in Slovakia

Šimonovičov, Alexandra; Pangallo, Domenico; Chovanová, Katarína; Lehotská, Blanka

doi:10.2478/s11756-011-0041-2

Cited by 16 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…1 | Global distribution of Pseudogymnoascus destructans. a | Points show locations that have been sampled for P. destructans 28,33,39,40,[53][54][55]68,77,[161][162][163][164][165][166] . Filled circles indicate sites where P. destructans was detected through qPCR, photographs and sampling of museum specimens and red open circles indicate sites where P. destructans was not detected (these sites in North America are not shown).…”

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confidence: 99%

Ecology and impacts of white-nose syndrome on bats

2021

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White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a fungal disease in bats and one of the most devastating infectious disease outbreaks in wild mammals to emerge over the past century 1-15. WNS was first detected in 2007 by biologists who discovered an abnormal mortality event at a cave in Albany County, New York (NY), USA, while conducting routine bat population monitoring surveys 16. Bats that were still alive were covered in a white fungus, which was most noticeable on their muzzles, ears and wings, thus leading to the disease being named WNS 17,18. Following this discovery, inspection of nearby hibernation sites (hibernacula) led to similar findings and further examination of photos collected from previous winter surveys revealed that bats at another nearby site had visible signs of infection with the fungus in the winter of 2005-2006. Thus, the earliest evidence of this disease in North America is on 16 February 2006 in Howes Cave, NY 17. Histological examination of dead and dying bats later identified the likely causative agent as Geomyces destructans 19 , a novel fungus that was unknown to science before its discovery in North America 17. Based on DNA sequence data from other Geomyces spp. and related fungi, G. destructans was reclassified as Pseudogymnoascus destructans 16,17,20 in 2013. P. destructans is a multi-host psychrophilic ascomycete 20 in the order Onygenales, which contains many other pathogenic and environmentally resilient fungi. Molecular evidence suggests that P. destructans has evolved with Eurasian bat communities, with which it has coexisted for millenia 21,22 , to become a specialist pathogen that relies primarily on living bat tissue for growth and replication 22-24. The investment in parasitic traits has led to physiological and ecological trade-offs 22-26 , which make P. destructans both reliant on but also well adapted to infecting the epidermal tissue of hibernating bats during the winter 26,27. While bat communities across Eurasia experience greatly reduced WNS disease severity with no evidence of mass mortality 28,29 , naive host communities in North America experienced unprecedented population declines 1-15 on first exposure to this virulent pathogen 26,27. Routine monitoring and retrospective photo documentation of bat populations enabled biologists to estimate the timing of P. destructans' introduction to North America with some certainty, making this disease emergence unique among other wildlife diseases. Early detection enabled the spread of P. destructans across North America to be tracked and the impacts of the pathogen on hosts to be accurately assessed. Building on this information, the first decade of WNS research has led to considerable advances in the understanding of the closely tied interactions between P. destructans and its hosts compared with other emerging wildlife diseases over similar timescales 30,31. In this Review, we describe the origins, distribution, seasonal life history, pathogenesis, and the impacts and persistence of bats with P. destructans across the globe. Finally, we...

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confidence: 99%

Ecology and impacts of white-nose syndrome on bats

2021

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“…Since then, the fungus has been morphologically and genetically confirmed in 14 countries in Europe (France, Portugal, Belgium, The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Ukraine and Estonia) and 9 White-Nose Syndrome in Bats convincing photographic evidence further supports its presence in an additional four countries (Luxembourg, Denmark, Romania and Turkey [the European part]) (Martínková et al 2010;Puechmaille et al 2010Puechmaille et al , 2011aKubátová et al 2011;Simonovicová et al 2011;Mestdagh et al 2012;Wibbelt et al 2010Wibbelt et al , 2013Burger et al 2013;Paiva-Cardoso et al 2014;Sachanowicz et al 2014). At the continental scale, most European reports are from northeastern France through Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and the Czech Republic, but it remains unclear whether this pattern of higher prevalence of the fungus is real or reflects sampling bias (Puechmaille et al 2011a).…”

Section: Status Of P Destructans/wns In Europementioning

confidence: 96%

White-Nose Syndrome in Bats

Frick

Puechmaille

Willis

2015

Bats in the Anthropocene: Conservation of Bats in a Changing World

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“…There is also evidence of an overly aggressive and damaging immune response exhibited by infected bats after they awake from torpor (Meteyer et al 2012). The pathogen, P.d., has been detected in Europe, where bats do not appear to suffer mass mortality (Puechmaille et al 2010(Puechmaille et al , 2011aŠimonovičov et al 2011). This difference has led to speculation that European bats have coevolved with the fungus and that it is an invasive species in North America, although pathogenicity and relationship of European P.d.…”

Section: Threats and Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The State of Bats in Conservation Planning for the National Wildlife Refuge System, With Recommendations

Dixon

Heist

Tinsley

2013

Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management

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Bats face an unprecedented array of threats in the early 21st century, from traditional concerns such as habitat loss, to white nose syndrome and collisions with wind turbines. These growing challenges arise when the National Wildlife Refuge System, a system of public lands and waters that provides habitat for nearly every bat species in North America north of Mexico, is beginning its first revision cycle for its management plans, known as Comprehensive Conservation Plans. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is thus uniquely positioned to assess its current contribution to sustaining viable populations of bats in the United States and incorporate those findings into the biological objectives that will guide Refuge management for the next 15 y. We present a review of the degree to which the first generation of Comprehensive Conservation Plans addresses bat conservation, and we provide recommendations to guide managers, planners, and partners in the development of the second generation of these Comprehensive Conservation Plans.

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Geomyces destructans associated with bat disease WNS detected in Slovakia

Cited by 16 publications

References 9 publications

Ecology and impacts of white-nose syndrome on bats

Ecology and impacts of white-nose syndrome on bats

White-Nose Syndrome in Bats

The State of Bats in Conservation Planning for the National Wildlife Refuge System, With Recommendations

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