Detection of<i>Pseudogymnoascus destructans</i>on Free-flying Male Bats Captured During Summer in the Southeastern USA

Carpenter, Grace; Willcox, Emma V.; Bernard, Riley F.; Stiver, William H.

doi:10.7589/2016-02-041

Cited by 19 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Although exposure to Pd does not result in disease during summertime, our results demonstrate that bats can carry viable fungus on their skin during summer and thus facilitate movement of the pathogen. Our finding extends the surveillance period for Pd reported by Carpenter et al (2016), particularly when sampling efforts are focused around hibernacula used by WNS-susceptible bat species during summer.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 66%

“…Previous research has indicated that detection of Pd is highest among hibernating bats during winter. However, Pd has also been detected at low prevalence on bats during summer (Dobony et al 2011;Langwig et al 2015;Carpenter et al 2016). While analysis of skin swabs demonstrated superior sensitivity and specificity for detecting Pd during early stage infections in hibernating bats (McGuire et al 2016), reliability of this sampling method for detecting Pd in nontorpid bats has not been evaluated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dispersal Hazards of Pseudogymnoascus Destructans by Bats and Human Activity at Hibernacula in Summer

Ballmann

Torkelson

Bohuski

et al. 2017

Journal of Wildlife Diseases

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Bats occupying hibernacula during summer are exposed to Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd), the causative agent of white-nose syndrome (WNS), and may contribute to its dispersal. Furthermore, equipment and clothing exposed to cave environments are a potential source for human-assisted spread of Pd. To explore dispersal hazards for Pd during the nonhibernal season, we tested samples that were collected from bats, the environment, and equipment at hibernacula in the eastern US between 18 July-22 August 2012. Study sites included six hibernacula known to harbor bats with Pd with varying winter-count impacts from WNS and two hibernacula (control sites) without prior history of WNS. Nucleic acid from Pd was detected from wing-skin swabs or guano from 40 of 617 bats (7% prevalence), including males and females of five species at five sites where WNS had previously been confirmed as well as from one control site. Analysis of guano collected during summer demonstrated a higher apparent prevalence of Pd among bats (17%, 37/223) than did analysis of wing-skin swabs (1%, 4/617). Viable Pd cultured from wing skin (2%, 1/56) and low recapture rates at all sites suggested bats harboring Pd during summer could contribute to pathogen dispersal. Additionally, Pd DNA was detected on clothing and trapping equipment used inside and near hibernacula, and Pd was detected in sediment more readily than in swabs of hibernaculum walls. Statistically significant differences in environmental abundance of Pd were not detected among sites, but prevalence of Pd differed between sites and among bat species. Overall, bats using hibernacula in summer can harbor Pd on their skin and in their guano, and demonstration of Pd on clothing, traps, and other equipment used at hibernacula during summertime within the WNS-affected region indicates risk for pathogen dispersal during the nonhibernal season.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 66%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dispersal Hazards of Pseudogymnoascus Destructans by Bats and Human Activity at Hibernacula in Summer

Ballmann

Torkelson

Bohuski

et al. 2017

Journal of Wildlife Diseases

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“…Screening results for P. destructans on bats during the summer is consistent with this prediction with only a small fraction of individuals tested carrying DNA of the fungus (e.g. Ballmann et al, 2017; Carpenter et al, 2016; Huebschman et al, 2019; Langwig et al, 2015a). Given that the large majority of studies on summer prevalence are based on qPCR data, it remains unclear what fraction of these infrequent qPCR positives relate to viable spores.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 70%

Population genetics as a tool to elucidate pathogen reservoirs: Lessons fromPseudogymnoascus destructans, the causative agent of white-nose disease in bats

Fischer

Altewischer

Ranpal

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Emerging infectious diseases pose a major threat to human, animal, and plant health. The risk of species-extinctions increases when pathogens can survive in the absence of the host, for example in environmental reservoirs. However, identifying such reservoirs and modes of infection is often highly challenging. In this study, we investigated the presence and nature of an environmental reservoir for the ascomycete fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the causative agent of white-nose disease. We also characterised the modes and timing of transmission of the pathogen; key elements to better understand the disease dynamics. Using 18 microsatellite markers, we determined the genotypic and genic (based on allele frequencies) differentiation between 1,497 P. destructans isolates collected from nine closely situated hibernacula in North-Eastern Germany. One hibernaculum was the focus of intensive sampling in which both the bats and walls of the site were sampled at regular intervals over five consecutive winter seasons (1,062 isolates). We found significant genic differentiation between sites and few multi-locus genotypes shared across hibernacula (genotypic differentiation). This demonstrates that each hibernaculum has an essentially unique population of the fungus. This would be expected if bats purge viable P. destructans over the summer, preventing the mixing and exchange of the pathogen in maternity colonies, where bats from all of the studied hibernacula meet. Results from the intensively sampled site show higher measures of genotypic richness on walls compared to bats, the absence of genic differentiation between bats and walls, and stable relative abundance of multi-locus genotypes over multiple winter seasons. This clearly implicates hibernacula walls as the main environmental reservoir of the pathogen, from which bats become re-infected annually.

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“…We include an additional disease mortality factor during hibernation (rate α f ). Infected bats clear the infection during the active season, even to the point where no Pd is detectable on the bat (Ballmann, Torkelson, Bohuski, Russell, & Blehert, ; Carpenter, Willcox, Bernard, & H Stiver, ). We tested both recovery to exposed state only ( I a to E a , rate δ I ) and further recovery to susceptible state ( E a to S a , rate δ E ) with halved rates.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Landscape structure and ecology influence the spread of a bat fungal disease

2018

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Abstract1. White-nose syndrome (WNS), affecting multiple North American bat species during the hibernation period, is a highly pathogenic disease caused by the psychrophilic fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd). Because the fungal pathogen persists in the hibernation site environment independently of the hosts, previous theory on spatial disease dynamics cannot predict WNS epidemics. However, the ability to understand factors contributing to the spread of white-nose syndrome (WNS) in North America is crucial to the management of infected and susceptible bat populations as well as the conservation of threatened and endangered bat species.2. Utilizing recent theory on environmental opportunistic pathogens, we modelled the effect of (a) landscape clustering, (b) environmental conditions in hibernacula and (c) microbial competition on the spread of WNS. We used available, already published data to construct and parameterize our model, which takes into account the spatial distribution of hibernation sites, temperature conditions in both the outside ambient and hibernation site environment, bat population dynamics, dispersal and infection by the pathogen, which also has its host-independent dynamics with the environment. We also consider the effect of outside-host competition between the pathogen and other micro-organisms on spatial disease dynamics. 3. Our model suggests that pathogen loads accumulate in poorly connected hibernacula at short host dispersal, which can help found the epidemic. In contrast, invasion of the landscape is most successful at long host dispersal distances, with homogenous hibernation site distribution and heterogeneous between-hibernation site temperatures. Also, increasing the mean temperature across hibernacula increases fungal growth rate, leading to higher disease prevalence and faster invasion rate. Increasing spatial heterogeneity in hibernaculum temperatures results in the formation of disease hotspots in warmer hibernacula, facilitating more effective spread of the disease in the landscape. Cold-adapted competing microbes can prevent invasion, and therefore, overwintering in cold hibernacula increases probability of host survival.4. Sites that were suboptimal for overwintering prior to WNS may have importance in preventing local extirpations. Although the model is tailored for WNS, due to

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Detection ofPseudogymnoascus destructanson Free-flying Male Bats Captured During Summer in the Southeastern USA

Cited by 19 publications

References 24 publications

Dispersal Hazards of Pseudogymnoascus Destructans by Bats and Human Activity at Hibernacula in Summer

Dispersal Hazards of Pseudogymnoascus Destructans by Bats and Human Activity at Hibernacula in Summer

Population genetics as a tool to elucidate pathogen reservoirs: Lessons fromPseudogymnoascus destructans, the causative agent of white-nose disease in bats

Landscape structure and ecology influence the spread of a bat fungal disease

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