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Spraying bats with ‘good’ bacteria may combat deadly white nose syndrome

The treatment uses antifungal microbes that many of the animals already have on their skin

bat with WNS

DEADLY FUZZ  Dosing bats with antifungal bacteria appears to help defend against the fungus that causes the devastating disease known as white nose syndrome.

USFWS/Sue Cameron/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

By Kathleen O'Neil

A one-time spritz with a solution of beneficial bacteria may help bats infected with white nose syndrome survive the deadly disease.

Boosting the amount of naturally antifungal Pseudomonas fluorescens bacteria that are already present on many bats’ skin allowed nearly half of the animals to live through winter, compared with only 8 percent surviving in an untreated group, a small study finds.