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At January’s Purdue Pest Management Conference, Zach Ewert, Ewert Pest Control, Green Bay, Wis., took a look at common species found throughout North America.
He also shared with attendees three zoonotic diseases associated with North American bats: white-nose syndrome, rabies and histoplasmosis.
While Ewert is in the business of keeping pests and wildlife out of people’s homes, he’s also a wildlife enthusiast and has a deep appreciation for bats.
“They are probably one of the coolest mammals you can learn about. Most people don't know a thing about them except for what Hollywood tells us or what from books tell us,” he said.
For example, bats are beneficial in that 70% of the bats worldwide eat insects.
Because Ewerts respects bats so much he is concerned about white-nose syndrome, which has been responsible for millions of bat deaths throughout North America.
The disease is caused by a fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, or Pd for short. Sometimes Pd looks like a white fuzz on bats’ faces, which is how the disease got its name.
“It disturbs them when they are hibernating,” Ewert said. “They actually wake up because of the white-nose syndrome."
WNS is detrimental to bat colonies and Ewerts said if things don’t change it is going to wipe out most species of North American bats – especially hibernating bats.
Ewert said humans who explore caves have exacerbated the problem because they move fungi from one area of a cave to another.
RABIES. One of challenges with rabies is that it can spread to people from bats after minor, seemingly unimportant, or unrecognized bites or scratches.
Ewerts said that although the chance of getting rabies is low, he and his team are all vaccinated for it and use gloves and PPE.
“The good thing with rabies is there is a lot we can do with prevention,” Ewerts said. “The bad part about rabies is that once it gets in your system, and if you don't get treated for it is usually it's terminal to get you to die from it.”
Ewerts reminded that the disease is treatable if diagnosed and people follow up with doctor's visits.
HISTOPLASMOSIS. Histoplasmosis is caused by a fungus that lives in soil, particularly where there's a large amount of bird or bat poop. People can get histoplasmosis by breathing in fungal spores, and infection can be mild or life-threatening.
Ewerts said most people don’t understand how histoplasmosis spreads. For both the general public and pest management professionals, attics are a particular concern.
“So if a bat poops in the attic and we walk across that dried up poop, we are releasing these dust particles in the air. That is the concern.”
Ewerts recommends pest management professionals use N95 respirators.
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