White-nose syndrome (WNS) has been solely responsible for wiping out several million bats in North America.
A study undertaken in China recently found that Asian bats show a marked level of resistance to this fungal infection that affects bat arousal during hibernation.
Bats in Europe also seem to have evolved resistance to this and research suggests that resistance could be much more widespread than first thought, and that host resistance is the crucial factor in combatting fungal growth.
There may be hope in the future for bat species in North America that can evolve resistance quickly. One can only hope this will be so, given that the current loss of bats in the US stands at over 6 million individuals.
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