Bacteria Spray May Save Bat Populations from White-Nose Syndrome

White-nose syndrome is a deadly fungal disease found in bats that have devastated bat populations across eastern North America and the continent. Now, scientists have discovered bacteria that naturally grow on some bats that could just combat this disease.

In this latest study, the researchers isolated bacteria from the skin of four bat species and tested the isolates for their ability to inhibit the growth of the fungus. Six of the bacterial isolates looked promising and were tested more extensively. Scientists found that while all six significantly inhibited the growth of the fungus, two isolates performed especially well in suppressing fungal growth for more than 35 days.

"What's promising is that the bacteria that can inhibit the fungus naturally occur on the skin of bats," said Joseph Hoyt, one of the researchers, in a news release. "These bacteria may just be at too low a level to have an effect on the disease, but augmenting them to higher abundances may provide a beneficial effect."

In fact, a bacterial spray applied to bats during hibernation could potentially suppress the fungus enough to help the bats survive the winter. Since white-nose syndrome grows on the skin of bats' noses, ears and wings during hibernation, the researchers hope that the bacteria can stave off the disease until bats are able to leave hibernation and their body temperatures rise.

The new findings raise the possibility that naturally occurring bacteria could partially explain some of the differences seen in the impacts of the disease on different species. The isolates with the strongest inhibitory properties were actually cultured from bat species that have suffered lower mortality from white-nose syndrome than other species.

The findings are published in the journal PLOS One.

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