Washington States isolated case might be the answer to closing recreational caves

Washington state

Washington state has an isolated case of WNS that appeared around March of 2016. The question is why?

Ann Froschauer of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife States that white-nose syndrome can be inadvertently transferred to bats from humans by carrying spores on clothing, shoes or equipment. She also states that the fungus thrives in underground environments. While USGS is unsure of how it could be transferred but ensures more research needs to be done. They state that this is the most serious wildlife disease recorded in the United States. I agree that more research needs to be done but it raises a lot of questions if the fungus thrives in underground environments how long does it really last on clothing or shoes?

Where did the fungus come from?

https://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/119005

When bats venture out of their habitat they leave fungus on the places they have been allowing for other bats to pick it up. According to Invasive Species Compendium, it is theologized that the fungus originally came from Asia or Europe due to natural bat flight patterns. The first case in 2005 New York led others to be on the lookout and it is unknown as to where the fungus originated from.

https://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/1000_1x_/public/images/2015/05/8006832787_a013d70e37_o.jpg?itok=-_5kXUtW

Overall it seems that keeping recreational caves closed is the right call. With still so much unknown about White-nose syndrome it seems like we need to error on the side of caution. White-nose syndrome has been adding more cases to more states every year since 2005. There are still many questions on how an isolated case came about in Washington. Although it is though that the fungus is transferred from bat to bat ruling out the worry of having people also transferring and making the cases worse is a step in the right direction. It would be a devastating loss for our agriculture if we lost the bats that help with pest control and pollination. The work that the National park and individual sates are doing are helping us to better understand what is going on and more work needs to be continued.