Efficacy of visual surveys for white-nose syndrome at bat hibernacula

White-Nose Syndrome (WNS) is an epizootic disease in hibernating bats caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans. Surveillance for P. destructans at bat hibernacula consists primarily of visual surveys of bats, collection of potentially infected bats, and submission of these bats for laboratory testing. Cryptic infections (bats that are infected but display no visual signs of fungus) could lead to the mischaracterization of the infection status of a site and the inadvertent spread of P. destructans. We determined the efficacy of visual detection of P. destructans by examining visual signs and molecular detection of P. destructans on 928 bats of six species at 27 sites during surveys conducted from January through March in 2012–2014 in the southeastern USA on the leading edge of the disease invasion. Cryptic infections were widespread with 77% of bats that tested positive by qPCR showing no visible signs of infection. The probability of exhibiting visual signs of infection increas...白鼻综合征（White-Nose Syndrome, WNS）是一种由毁皮霉菌（Pseudogymnoascus destructans）引发的冬眠蝙蝠兽疫。针对蝙蝠冬眠栖息地内毁皮霉菌的监测工作，主要包括蝙蝠目视检查、疑似感染蝙蝠的采集，以及将采集的蝙蝠送交实验室检测。隐性感染（即已感染真菌但未表现出可视症状的蝙蝠）可能会导致对某一栖息地感染状态的错误判定，进而造成毁皮霉菌的无意传播。本研究于2012–2014年1月至3月期间，在美国东南部该疾病入侵前沿的27个采样点，对6个物种的928只蝙蝠开展调查，通过观察蝙蝠的可视症状与毁皮霉菌的分子检测，评估目视检测毁皮霉菌的有效性。隐性感染现象分布广泛，经定量聚合酶链式反应（qPCR）检测呈阳性的蝙蝠中，有77%未表现出可见的感染症状。蝙蝠出现可视感染症状的概率随……