TY - JOUR AU - Wibbelt, Gudrun AU - Kurth, Andreas AU - Hellmann, David AU - Weishaar, Manfred AU - Barlow, Alex AU - Veith, Michael AU - Prüger, Julia AU - Görföl, Tamás AU - Grosche, Lena AU - Bontadina, Fabio AU - Zöphel, Ulrich AU - Seidl, Hans-Peter AU - Cryan, Paul M. AU - Blehert, David S. T1 - White-Nose Syndrome Fungus (Geomyces destructans) in Bats, Europe T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2010 VL - 16 IS - 8 SP - 1237 SN - 1080-6059 AB - White-nose syndrome is an emerging disease in North America that has caused substantial declines in hibernating bats. A recently identified fungus (Geomyces destructans) causes skin lesions that are characteristic of this disease. Typical signs of this infection were not observed in bats in North America before white-nose syndrome was detected. However, unconfirmed reports from Europe indicated white fungal growth on hibernating bats without associated deaths. To investigate these differences, hibernating bats were sampled in Germany, Switzerland, and Hungary to determine whether G. destructans is present in Europe. Microscopic observations, fungal culture, and genetic analyses of 43 samples from 23 bats indicated that 21 bats of 5 species in 3 countries were colonized by G. destructans. We hypothesize that G. destructans is present throughout Europe and that bats in Europe may be more immunologically or behaviorally resistant to G. destructans than their congeners in North America because they potentially coevolved with the fungus. KW - White-nose syndrome KW - Geomyces destructans KW - bats KW - Europe KW - fungi KW - mortality KW - pathogen KW - hibernation KW - Myotis spp. KW - research KW - Germany KW - Switzerland KW - Hungary DO - 10.3201/eid1608.100002 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/16/8/10-0002_article ER - End of Reference