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Have there been any scientific efforts to intentionally spread WNS by means of normal caving activities?
wyandottecaver wrote:The very very important aspect of the "cave pack" study is that it was essentially a setup. (perhaps why it was never published for peer review) Researchers went into the WNS cave intending to gather and test whether spores could be picked up by gear and immediately upon exiting took samples and placed them into protective media designed to preserve GD. They proved that gear could get GD as far as a cave entrance...where it likely existed in the first place. Hardly a real test under real conditions.
John Lovaas wrote:The only people I know who handle bats are dumb white trash and bat workers.
wyandottecaver wrote:The very very important aspect of the "cave pack" study is that it was essentially a setup. (perhaps why it was never published for peer review) Researchers went into the WNS cave intending to gather and test whether spores could be picked up by gear and immediately upon exiting took samples and placed them into protective media designed to preserve GD. They proved that gear could get GD as far as a cave entrance...where it likely existed in the first place. Hardly a real test under real conditions.
Detection of the Conidia of Geomyces destructans in Northeast Hibernacula, at Maternal Colonies, and on Gear – Some Findings Based on Microscopy and Culture
JOSEPH C. OKONIEWSKI 1, JOHN HAINES 2, ALAN C. HICKS 1, KATE E. LANGWIG 1, RYAN I. VON LINDEN 1, AND CHRISTOPHER A. DOBONY 3
1 New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Albany, NY
2 New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY
3 Department of Defense, Fort Drum Military Installation, Fort Drum, NY
Geomyces destructans, the apparent causal agent of white-nose syndrome (WNS), produces enormous numbers of conidia (asexual spores). These conidia can be readily identified with light microscopy and can be cultured on standard media. In the last year we have employed these techniques to detect the presence of G. destructans in various investigations. Using a portable Burkhard sampler which deposits airborne particles on two-sided tape mounted on a microscope slide, we collected air samples (0.09 m 3/sample) from WNS-affected hibernacula in New York and Vermont. To date, examination of 36 samples from six hibernacula collected during the hibernation season has yielded a total of seven positive results from three sites. Five of the positive samples captured only one or two conidia. The highest conidia count (109) was collected less than 0.5 m below a small group of WNS affected bats. All of the 33 samples collected at six hibernacula outside of the hibernation season have been negative. Microscopic searches of swab samples collected from surfaces in hibernacula on which airborne conidia are likely to be deposited have, so far, yielded mostly negative results. In contrast, swab samples from drill-holes at one mine (where direct contact with bats is likely) were mostly positive. Attempts to culture G. destructans from swabs of the same surfaces failed due to rapid growth of other fungi. Conidia can frequently be found on decomposed bat remains in WNS-affected hibernacula, although numbers decline rapidly with time and the growth and activity of other organisms. Findings at necropsy suggest that a lot of conidia are swallowed in grooming during arousal bouts. These conidia can comprise the bulk of material in fecal pellets produced during hibernation. Conidia from the colon have been found to be viable on culture. The fate and importance of this concentration of conidia in fecal material awaits investigation. We have not yet found G. destructans growing on anything in hibernacula except live or freshly dead bats. At maternal colonies, swabbing of bats and direct media inoculations collectively yielded positive results in both May (3/15) and August (3/17) at Fort Drum, and in one of four bats at a colony in the upper Hudson Valley in June. Sampling at a colony near Lake Champlain (July, n=21) and another in the Finger Lakes (August, n=11) was negative. Conidia of G. destructans were observed in swab or rinse samples of apparel and a gear used in WNS-affected hibernacula. [oral]
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