From the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources:
White-nose Syndrome (WNS) / Metro Park in Summit County
Facts provided by the ODNR, Division of Wildlife
and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
· Wildlife officials have confirmed the second case of White-nose Syndrome (WNS) in a cave on a Metro Park in Summit County.
· WNS was first detected in New York State in 2006 and has killed over 5 million cave-hibernating bats in the eastern North America. Since its initial discovery, WNS has been confirmed in 16 states and four Canadian provinces; it is suspected to occur in three additional states as well. WNS was first confirmed in Ohio on the Wayne National Forest in Lawrence County in 2011.
· WNS is associated with a newly identified white fungus called Geomyces destructans (Gd). The disease is named “white-nose syndrome” because this fungus often grows into white tufts on the muzzles of infected bats. Biologists believe the main method of transfer of WNS is bat-to-bat transmission; however it is also likely that humans can transport Gd spores from contaminated sites to new sites on clothing, footwear, and gear. WNS does not affect human health, in part because Gd requires cooler temperatures to survive than the human body temperature.
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