White-Nose Syndrome, a fungal disease that has killed millions of bats in North America, has been found in four new southern Illinois counties.
Tests conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center found five bats submitted from Jackson, Union, Saline and Johnson counties were positive for the disease. These are the first confirmed records in these counties. The disease was first discovered in Illinois in 2013 in Pope, Hardin, Monroe and LaSalle counties.
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, white-nose syndrome is not known to affect people, pets, or livestock but is harmful or lethal to hibernating bats, killing 90 percent or more of some species of bats in caves where the fungus has persisted for a year or longer.
For more information, visit: www.whitenosesyndrome.org.
