Introduction

White-nose Syndrome (WNS) is a disease that is highly contagious to hibernating bats. Unfortunately, WNS has a very high mortality rate for a number of common bat species that dwell in caves in the United States. While the disease is primarily spread by bat-to-bat contact which then infects the caves they visit, it is possible for humans to transport the disease between caves. As such, all cave visitors must take practical precautions to assure they are not part of the problem in spreading WNS.

This training module will further explain what WNS is, how it is spread, and what can be done to prevent it from being transported by humans between caves used by bats.