New Jersey (ChatterShmatter) – If you have noticed an increase in the summer mosquitoes in and around in the New York and New England area you can point to the mysterious disease causing massive deaths of bats in the area.
The scientists, who study the flying rodents, are seeing a similar increase in deaths of bats in New Jersey & Pennsylvania areas as well. The disease appears to cause bats to vacate their winter hibernation spots prematurely and flying in the cold weather causes the bats to utilize fat reserves in the bodies of the bats leading to their eventual death. The disease also has been known to cause the bats to move to a colder hibernation spot which then cools their high body temperatures again causing death.
Those studying the sudden rash of deaths are dubbing the illness “white noise syndrome” after the white fungus which develops on many of the infected bats. It is not clear if the white fungus is a result of the illness or is a symptom.
The reason for the sudden spread of the disease is due to the migratory habits of bats and their proclivity to hibernate with many other bats, sometimes in groups around 300 in number making their nests a veritable Petri dish for diseases.
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