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jIyajbe [soylentnews.org] writes:

A steadily spreading disease that's already killed millions of bats across the Eastern United States has made its way to the Northwest.

Tests on a little brown bat that died at a Seattle-area facility March 13 confirmed the animal had been infected with white-nose syndrome, spread by the Pseudogymnoascus destructans fungus, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Thursday. The fungus sickens bats by eating away at their skin and disrupting their biological rhythms.

So far, more than 6 million North American bats have died from white-nose syndrome, which earns its name from the powdery film that appears on infected bats' muzzles.

Bats play a critical role in the ecosystem, pollinating plants and controlling insects that damage crops and spread disease. With bats' numbers suppressed by the fungus, the Bat Conservation International warns, "we can expect to see significant ecosystem changes in the coming years."

http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2016/03/northwest_bad_discovered_with.html [oregonlive.com]

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