Emerging infectious diseases can have devastating and lasting effects on wildlife populations. Few studies have examined pathogen dynamics for diseases in endemic regions, despite the insight that can be gained about potential long-term impacts and outcome of host-parasite interactions in introduced regions. We examined host infection patterns and environmental reservoirs for Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the fungal pathogen causing white-nose syndrome, across Europe and Asia, and compared disease dynamics to North America, where the pathogen is invading.
Results/Conclusions
Infection prevalence and fungal loads were much lower on bats in Asia than North America, and hibernacula surfaces had significantly lower fungal loads. These results indicate that transmission intensity and pathogen growth are lower in Asia, which would allow for less resistant species to persist due to a lower force of infection. In North America, preventing extinctions of highly susceptible species will depend on whether declining highly infectious hosts can evolve resistance or tolerance before being driven extinct.