Bat fungus confirmed in 5 California counties
Copyright/Photo Credit: Troy Gipps, public domain as posted on the North American Bat Program Flickr page.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A potentially deadly fungus that causes white-nose syndrome in bats has been detected in five counties across California this year, according to the state Dept. of Fish and Wildlife.
White-nose syndrome has killed millions of bats across North America and decimated entire colonies, state officials said.
While white-nose syndrome has not yet been observed in any bat in California, the presence of the fungal pathogen suggests the disease could manifest in California’s bats within the next few years, state officials said.
Such progression has been observed in other states, as the fungus and disease have been spreading across North America since discovery in 2006. The fungus was first detected on the West Coast in 2016 when it was discovered on a bat in King County, Wash.
White-nose syndrome is often fatal to hibernating bats,but it does not infect humans, pets, livestock or other wildlife, according to state biologists.
White-nose syndrome develops when the fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, invades the skin cells of bats, resulting in damage to delicate wing membranes.
The infection typically appears as white fuzz on the faces of infected bats.
Bats with white-nose syndrome often end winter hibernation early, when water and insect prey resources are scarce, causing them to deplete their fat reserves and become dehydrated. As a result, infected bats often die, state officials said.
Last year, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife confirmed the first definitive presence of the fungus in a bat roost in Humboldt County.
This year, the fungus was also confirmed in Sutter, Placer, Amador, and Inyo counties.
Inconclusive laboratory results suggest the fungus may also be present in Trinity, Siskiyou, Shasta, Plumas, Alpine, San Diego, and San Bernardino counties, state officials said.
Additional results are still pending for several other counties, state officials said.
The fungus has been detected on several bat species in California, including the little brown myotis, Yuma myotis, long-legged myotis, big brown bat, Mexican free-tailed bat, and Western red bat.
Biologists with Fish and Wildlife, the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have been sampling California’s bats for the presence of the fungus and clinical signs of white-nose syndrome since 2016.
When bats at monitoring sites emerge from hibernation each spring, biologists swab their faces and wings to test for the fungus. Swabs are analyzed by the USGS National Wildlife Health Center and the Pathogen and Microbiome Institute at Northern Arizona University.
California is home to 25 species of bats. A single bat can eat thousands of insects each night. California’s bats keep insect populations in check, benefiting rural, suburban and urban communities as well as a wide variety of natural landscapes that range from forests to deserts to grasslands, state officials said.
You can help watch for white-nose syndrome in California by reporting bat sightings to CDFW: Report a Sick or Dead Bat or Report a Bat Colony
For more information about white-nose syndrome, visit https://www.whitenosesyndrome.org/.