White Nose Syndrome likely to pose a risk to Australian bats

In collaboration with colleagues from DELWP/ARI and South Australia, we completed a formal disease risk analysis to assess the risk of the devastating fungal disease White Nose Syndrome on Australian bats.

This report was completed on behalf of Wildlife Health Australia (WHA) and revealed that there was a medium to high risk for some of our bat species, including the critically endangered southern bent-wing bat. The report directly informed government biosecurity planning for this disease, including mitigation strategies.

It also resulted in a factsheet for WHA and a journal publication, in a modified version.

Researchers

Dr Jasmin Hufschmid
Peter Holz
Dr Simon Firestone
Professor Mark Stevenson

December 2020