Battling a Deadly Bat Fungus

It’s January, and an aluminum skiff glides slowly across the waters of an old, flooded railroad tunnel in northern Georgia. Its lone passenger is an atomizer, a machine commonly used to disperse air fresheners or mosquito repellents. Over the course of its half-hour journey through the 430-m tunnel, the atomizer sprays an aerosolized cocktail of antifungal compounds that drift up to the craggy cave ceiling. The researchers who let loose these molecules are hoping the cocktail will reach and kill a deadly pathogen growing on the bats hibernating here. The research team, co-led by microbiologist Chris Cornelison of Kennesaw State University, is testing whether the compounds can slow the spread of white-nose syndrome (WNS), a fungal disease that has devastated bat populations in North America and shows no signs of slowing down. Such chemical treatments are an ever-present thread in the tapestry of the wildlife management and academic research response to WNS. But the use of any compound requires a careful weighing of its potential benefits against the probable drawbacks. Finding a novel way to strike down the fungal pathogen is only the first step. Ensuring that the method will not also harm the bats or disrupt delicate cave ecosystems greatly increases the complexity of the challenge that WNS presents. Yet in the face of this daunting task, scientists continue to search for solutions that will slow the spread of this deadly disease and give bats a fighting chance.