According to a press release from the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, white-nose syndrome has been confirmed for the first time in Oklahoma, making it the 31st state with the deadly disease that affects hibernating bats.
Scientists confirmed the disease from a skin biopsy of a tri-colored bat, one of two bats tested from a privately owned cave in Delaware County.
The county is also home to portions of the Ozark Plateau National Wildlife Refuge, established to benefit federally protected cave species, including endangered gray and Ozark big-eared bats and threatened northern long-eared bats.
The fungus that causes white-nose syndrome, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, was first detected in the cave in 2015, but at that time bats did not appear to be sick.
The fungus has also been found in four other eastern Oklahoma counties; on bats in Cherokee and Adair counties in the winter of 2015-2016, and on bats in Ottawa and Sequoyah counties this winter.
First detected in New York in the winter of 2006-2007, white-nose syndrome has rapidly spread west, killing millions of bats.
The disease does not infect humans.
This year the disease was also confirmed for the first time in Nebraska, and the fungus was found for the first time in Texas.
“It’s troubling that white-nose syndrome continues to push west and threatens the Ozark Plateau, a stronghold for bat conservation,” said National White-nose Syndrome Coordinator Jeremy Coleman of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “We are focused on finding solutions and helping bats survive.
“We’re committed to working with Oklahoma and other partners across the country to closely monitor bats and fight this devastating disease.”
Only limestone caves in Oklahoma have tested positive for the associated fungus.
Sampled gypsum caves in western Oklahoma have tested negative for the fungus, though the fungus was documented this year in gypsum caves in six counties in North Texas.
Bats play an important ecological role; each bat can eat up to 3,000 insects, including mosquitoes and agricultural pests, in a single night.
Biologists are concerned how white-nose syndrome will affect the bat populations in the future.
