Batgirl wrote:Actually Brian, you are wrong. It is possible for humans to spread the spores (as far we know). Laboratory tests prove that they can be transferred from the cave environment to our gear to the lab and from the cave environment to the bat. However, there have been no real world human to bat transmission tests done and therefore no proof that transmission under normal conditions can occur. No testing, means no proof one way or another, which means the theory is still plausible. I really wish you would quit this circular argument. it gets us nowhere. We must deal with the situation as it is and find ways to work together for the betterment of us all and the bats.
Let's be extremely specific here. Only one unpublished report, by NYDEC's Joe Okoniewski, showed that he was able to culture viable
Geomyces destructans from a cave pack. Here, once again, is the reference to his abstract, presented in Pittsburgh last May; scroll to page 17.
http://www.fws.gov/WhiteNoseSyndrome/pdf/AbstractsofPresentedPapersandPostersFor.pdfSimilarly, it wasn't laboratory tests, but a field experiment, that demonstrated that bats could get WNS from the environment. It was also presented at Pittsburgh, so using the same link above, scroll to page 12. This study is also unpublished. There were a number of questions raised about methodologies, but non-infected bats did get WNS. So, at least in this one study, the environment was able to sustain viable fungus from the spring until the fall without host bats. Whether or not there was decaying matter is undetermined, and how long such viability would last is also undetermined.
That is really it in terms of research, although both these studies are frequently cited by agencies, cavers, and the media to buttress opinions and management actions.
However, there is good news. It's actually old news, but people don't seem to be aware that it's going on. We did post the announcements back in October, but here they are again:
http://www.caves.org/WNS/USFWS%20$1.6M%20Grants.pdf and
http://www.caves.org/WNS/USFWS%202010%20Grants.pdfOne of the six major grants awarded by the USFWS in October, from the funds we lobbied Congress for, went to Dr. Hazel Barton for a project entitled,
"Natural history of Geomyces in cave environments: phylogeny, ecosystem activities, natural and anthropogenic transport," and is funded in the amount of $271,182.
The three major topics the research will address are:
1. The timing and dynamics of
Geomyces destructans transmission;
2. Does fungal growth/occurrence vary with hibernacula, and why?; and
3. How long can the fungus remain viable under environmental conditions?
These are interrelated questions. Understanding the structure of the fungus - how it
might attach and be transported - should help identify high risk activities and
solutions. But, even if physical transport is possible, the growth cycle and nutritional
needs of the fungus, and the environmental conditions necessary to support the fungus
also need to be favorable for disease transmission to occur.
In terms of transmission, Hazel will be looking at the structure of the fungus itself
(e.g. curved conidia, vs. straight), and how it attaches to materials - natural (rock,
clay), skin, hair, and clothing and equipment. These will be collected and tested, after
natural washing and other methods of cleaning.
She will also look specifically at how well people pick up spores in different
environments. Recreational cavers and their equipment, tourist visitors to show caves,
bat researchers handling bats, mist nets, and researchers at known WNS-infected sites.
Materials from all of these people will be collected, processed, and analyzed.
Comparison of normal collection of G
eomyces spp., that is, people doing "normal"
activities, to the WNS control site, along with survivability studies, should
conclusively determine whether the anthropomorphic spread of WNS is possible and/or
likely. It should also inform about risky behaviors, such as reuse or non-cleaning of
research equipment and supplies or cave equipment between caves.
I won't elaborate on the other portions of this study, nor get into the specific
analytical technologies, as they are proprietary, but I think you can see that the detailed work on possible human transmission needs to be understood in the context of fungal growth and environmental
viability to get the fuller picture.
This project will take hundreds of samples, collected from a wide geographic area of the
country, and run thousands of analytic tests. It's a two-year project. The results
should answer a lot of questions and should bring a far higher level of sophistication to
disease management than we have today.
This is the first major study specifically intended to focus on human transmission potential in the context of understanding what it takes for this fungus to move, take hold, grow, and colonize. While it won't provide answers tomorrow, it should help us get off the do we or don't we merry-go-round and answer several long-standing questions.