White Nose Syndrome In Bats Could Yield Clues About AIDS
Little Brown Bat Wing Inspection Biologists in Massachusetts inspect a little brown bat for wing damage, a symptom of white nose syndrome. Ann Froschauer/U.S. Fish & Wildlife ServiceResearch on how the deadly fungus affects immune systems may help HIV research. The millions of bats succumbing to a deadly fungal infection across the country will leave massive ecological holes in their wake--prime predators of insects are disappearing, for one, and cave flora and fauna that depend on bats could be in danger of collapsing. But research on the animals' immune responses could have one silver lining: helping AIDS patients. Biologists think white nose syndrome kills bats in a couple of ways--first, by covering their faces and wings in a powdery white fungus that makes them itchy, causing them to wake up from hibernation and burn their precious fat reserves. Second, it damages the animals' sensitive wing membranes, which causes system-wide injury that is...