The Roanoke Times

File February Aaron Myers shines lights on formations in February in Tawneys Cave, a privately owned cave in Giles County. Since humans may play some role in the spread of white nose syndrome in bats, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service called for a voluntary moratorium on recreational caving in a region including Virginia on March 26.

By now, almost everyone has heard of H1N1, a flu strain commonly referred to as "swine flu."

But Will Orndorff of the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation also wants people to have another abbreviation on their minds: WNS.

White nose syndrome is a fungal infection that afflicts bats, not humans, and it was found for the first time in Virginia this year.

This is cause for serious attention, Orndorff said.

"Bats are the No. 1 consumer of night flying insects," he said, "and, additionally, certain species preferentially feed off agricultural pests.

"If you remove the bats from the equation, all of a sudden, the economic costs of keeping that insect population at bay are significant."

It also means increased use of pesticides.

The disease has already led to the death of hundreds of thousands of bats in the Northeast and was recently found in Virginia caves, including Clover Hollow Cave in Giles County.

According to Steve Croy, forest ecologist for the George Washington-Jefferson National Forest, WNS affects the bat during the winter and causes the bat to come out of hibernation very early.

With no insects to eat, bats such as the Virginia big-eared quickly use up their fat reserves and starve to death.

Croy said there have been a number of reports in New York and Pennsylvania of bats lying dead on the snow.

Orndorff said there is also evidence of wing damage caused by the disease.

But beyond that, little is known about how the disease acts, where it has originated and what can be done about it.

Researchers suspect that humans may inadvertently play some role in the spread of WNS because of the way it seems to leapfrog from one region to another, though Orndorff said human beings are clearly not the only vector.

Since humans may play some role in the spread of WNS, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service called for a voluntary moratorium on recreational caving in a region including Virginia on March 26.

It is still in effect. All bat caves, called hibernaculum, on federal and state land in Virginia are closed to the public.

However, most caves in the state are on private property and cannot be regulated.

John Bowling, president of Virginia Tech's Caving Club, said the club participated in the moratorium last spring but has resumed caving in accordance with strict cautionary and decontamination guidelines.

The Virginia DCR Natural Heritage Program issued these guidelines in April and updated them Sept. 15.

"The club is enforcing the decontamination protocols ... including cleaning and disinfecting with bleach or quaternary ammonium any and all gear that goes from one cave to another," Bowling said

In addition, cavers and organizations are advised to limit caving to regional sites to reduce the potential for WNS to jump large distances.

These measures have been embraced by the Virginia Cave Board, the Virginia Speleological Survey, the Cave Conservancy of the Virginias, the Board of the Virginia Region of the National Speleological Society and the Butler Cave Conservation Society.

Orndoff said it is important to continue to allow responsible caving since much of the data and most of the recent discoveries come from caving groups.

In fact, Bowling said, he has been on several research trips, including the one that identified WNS in Giles.

Furthermore, the Tech group will be on the lookout for WNS during this winter.

"WNS is always on my mind when I visit a cave," Bowling said. "I always examine the bats I see."

According to Croy, data gathered this winter will help gage whether WNS is being contained and perhaps indicate how well precautions are working.

Orndorff added that it is also very important for people to report strange behavior in bats -- such as winter flying or any dead bats they may find -- to the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Moreover, he said, there are lessons to be learned concerning underfunded research programs.

"There has been a lack of political will historically to fund this research that did not have an obvious practical benefit," Orndorff said.

"When a disease appears in an important wildlife group like this, we are not ready to respond to it."