WNS Confirmed in Great Smokey NP

[PYoungbaer]

National Park officials have just issued a news release confirming WNS in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Here's the Release:

Great Smoky Mountains National Park
News Release
Immediate Release Contact: Molly Schroer
Date: March 20, 2012 865/436-1203

Great Smoky Mountains Confirms White-Nose Syndrome

Biologists at Great Smoky Mountains National Park have confirmed that both a tricolored and a little brown bat found in a park cave tested positive for white-nose syndrome (WNS). This discovery transitions the park from only finding evidence of the fungus that causes WNS in a cave to now finding animals actively affected by the disease.

White-nose syndrome is a disease caused by the fungus Geomyces destructans and is responsible for the deaths of millions of bats in eastern North America. It is named for a white fungus that forms on the faces of many infected bats. While the actual cause of death due to WNS is unknown, the disease causes bats to become restless during hibernation, moving about the cave and burning up fat reserves or losing body water they need to survive the winter. There is no known cure for the disease.

Bats are important components of intact natural ecosystems and may provide services that benefit people, such as eating large amounts of insect pests. Great Smoky Mountains is home to eleven bat species and the largest hibernating population of the endangered Indiana bat in the state of Tennessee. Of the eleven known species that reside in the park, at least six of them that hibernate in park caves and mines are susceptible to WNS.

In 2009 all 16 park caves and two mining complexes were closed to any public entry to delay the importation of the WNS pathogen on visitor’s clothing or gear. Park caves will continue to remain closed to human access to minimize the chances of spreading the disease to other areas.

“While the confirmation of WNS in the park is not a surprise it is still a sad day for the resource,” said Dale Ditmanson, Park Superintendent. “By continuing to monitor bat populations in our caves and forests we hope to minimize WNS affecting other bat habitats outside of our boundaries”

Park visitors are reminded to not handle dead bats or bats found to be acting abnormally. According to the NPS Office of Public Health, WNS does not appear to pose a threat to human health since the fungus that causes WNS only grows at temperatures well below human body temperature. However, WNS can cause sick bats to exhibit unusual behavior, such as flying outdoors or at hibernaculum entrances at all times of day and in all types of weather, so bats may be encountered in unusual settings.

“While humans are not at risk of contracting WNS, bats are known to carry other diseases such as rabies. If you see a dead, sick or injured bat within the park, please notify the park at (865)-436-1230,” said Bill Stiver, NPS Wildlife Biologist. “Any dead, injured or sick bats found outside of the park should be reported to your local state wildlife agency.”

[Andy]

It looks like to me they knew this two years ago ....

http://www.nps.gov/grsm/parknews/wns-press-release.htm

Date: April 19, 2010
Contact: Bob Miller, (865) 436-1207

Biologists at Great Smoky Mountains National Park have received confirmation that one Little Brown bat collected from its hibernating refuge in the Park’s White Oak Blowhole cave tested positive for Geomyces destructans [the fungus and the presumptive causative agent of White Nose Syndrome (WNS)]. White Oak Blowhole cave contains the largest known Indiana bat hibernacula in Tennessee. The Indiana bat is a federally listed endangered species which has seen declines in the Northeastern U.S. due to WNS. White Nose Syndrome has killed in excess of 90% of the bats in many of the caves and mines in the Northeast, and is just now showing up in the Southeast.
The fungal infection of one of the two bats collected in the Park was confirmed by the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, WI. In addition to confirming the fungal infection of the Little Brown bat, a common bat species, photographs taken of federally listed Indiana bats in the cave were found consistent with the early stages of WNS.

[PYoungbaer]

Andy,

As the new press release states, this changes the designation from Suspect to Confirmed. Previously, the fungus had been found, but the bats showed no histological signs of the disease. Now, they have, hence the re-designation.

I get a lot of communications from people who aren't clear on the designations. The distinction is specific, and follows a classification system put out by the U.S. Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center lab: http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/disease_information/white-nose_syndrome/wns_definitions.jsp This is an effort to have consistency in referring to the status of the disease.

As with the recent Alabama announcement, no bat mortality is reported. Some have suggested that without death, there is no WNS. That's not the case officially. In fact, we're seeing some survivors in northern states, tracked by banding, that have gotten the disease for at least three years, recovered, and even reproduced. Numbers are tiny, so biologists are still concerned there may not be enough bats left to repopulate the devastated areas. Or, the population may stabilize at a much lower level, reaching some sort of equilibrium between the bat host and the fungal pathogen - a mutually beneficial arrangement.

One of the concerns I and others have with the Great Smoky, Acadia, and Alabama announcements is that there is no contextual information given about the size of the bat populations. How many bats were affected? How many died? How many were there to begin with?

Given the Great Smoky reference you cited from two years ago, and the usual rapid growth rate of the disease in years two and three of infection, one might expect to have this year's report show massive mortality, yet the report doesn't suggest anything of the sort. So, is it slowing down?

Given the controversy about the increased overall estimate put out by USFWS recently, we would hope for an improvement in the reporting.

[Andy]

My friend photographed this bat on a tree during daylight hours near White Oak Blowhole in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park on February 22, 2012.