Early on in discussions of the spread of WNS it was pointed
out that Howe Caverns (where WNS was first detected) is only 40 miles
from the Port of Albany. An infected bat could very easily have
hitched a ride from Europe to the US on a boat and then taken up
residence in Howe Caverns. There is no need, or even likelihood, that
a human vector was involved (other than running the ship). The CDC
has published research showing how bats can be translocated over long
distances: <http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol9no1/02-0104.htm>,
<http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol9no1/pdfs/02-0104.pdf>
Too bad the media doesn't point this out instead of
mindlessly repeating the possibility that WNS came on a caver's boot. :-(
Mark
At 08:12 PM 5/12/2014, Peter Jones wrote:
I do take some issue with the idea that people are one of the
vectors for the spread of the disease, though. If we follow through
on your suggestion that 1000's of Europeans came to Howe Caverns and
thus brought the spores with them, I would counter that by saying
that if it was "tourists", then the evidence of the disease would
have spread much more quickly to the commercial caves, not to caves
in general throughout the northeast at first. People visiting
commercial caves are generally not cavers, but rather people with an
innate interest in commercialized caves. If they went to Howes,
they would likely have visited Luray, Endless, Shenandoah, Natural
Bridge and Grand Caverns, just to mention a few. However, the
disease did not seem to spread in that manner. It appears to have
spread from caves locally, especially in caves that "tourists"
didn't go to. Again, if it were spread by humans, why have we not
seen major outbreaks in Carlsbad Caverns, Cave of the Winds, Jewell,
Wind Cave, all the caves in California, etc? These are all caves
that tourists would likely have visited in addition to simply
visiting Howe. Again, that may be an oversimplification of the
spread of the disease, but I think it is still a valid point.
Please reply to mmin...@caver.net
Permanent email address is mmin...@illinoisalumni.org
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