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White-Nose Syndrome

Decent Essays

Brooke Lenting
English 9, 5th hour
3-3-2017
Miss B. Prins
White-Nose Syndrome: Killing Nature’s Pest Control
Sarah is studying to be a biologist in Albany, New York. During her first semester, she goes on a field trip to the local caverns. There her class watches hibernating bats. While they are visiting these caverns, they learn that this is the sight where a disease called White-Nose Syndrome (WNS) was first documented. White-Nose Syndrome, a disease in bats, affects species in Eastern North America, while they are hibernating, but there are safety measures a person can take, as well as research to find a cure. In order to fully understand the problem, people should know definitely something about it. According to the Britannica Website, …show more content…

These measures are as follows: People are not allowed to wear any shoes that they wore in any cave or mine since 2005, unless they are willing to clean them at a WNS station (“United States”), and do not wear anything, or take anything into any cave or mine that has been in any other cave or mine since 2005. Leave possibly contaminated objects behind (“United States”).
Scientists are also trying to find a cure for WNS. Unfortunately they have not found a cure, but they have found a natural compound that stops fungal growth. According to the Nature Conservatory website, scientists on May 19, 2015 successfully treated infected bats. The solution: a common North American bacterium, designed to keep fruit from molding, slows and stops fungal growth. Its name is Rhodococcus Rhodochrous, and it emits Volatile Organic Compounds (Also known as VOC’s). These VOC’s prevent fungal growth, and since WNS is a fungus, it stops it from growing so it can be removed from the bats (Miller, et …show more content…

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Miller, Matt, Lisa Feldkamp, Sara Mortensen, and Jenny Rogers. "Bananas to Bats: The Science Behind the First Bats Successfully Treated for White-Nose Syndrome." Cool Green Science. 27 Oct. 2016. Web. 15 Feb. 2017.
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