Winter/Spring 2012 Aesculapian Magazine - University of Georgia ...

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A hibernating bat with the tell-tale signs of White-Nose Syndrome.
A Plague on North American Bats By Helen Fosgate White-Nose Syndrome is spreading through states and devastating colonies of bats from Canada to North Carolina. Dr. Kevin Keel (BS ’90; MS ’93; DVM ’97) opens the refrigerator, lifts out several culture samples, and sets them on the stainless-steel table. “Oh boy,” he sighs, glancing at the Petri dishes. The fuzzy, white growth on the medium confirms what he and others in the lab already feared. The samples — taken from Kentucky bats — are positive for Geomyces destructans, a fungus that is killing bats in Canada and in the U.S. from New York to North Carolina. As of December 2011, the fungus has been found in 19 states and four Canadian provinces—and there’s no end in sight. Keel, a veterinarian and wildlife pathologist at the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study (SCWDS, commonly pronounced “squid-us”) in Athens, along with colleagues Justin Brown (PhD ’07) and Lisa Last (DVM ’10), tested more than a hundred dead bats this past winter, verifying the fungus’ spread to new states—including four in the Southeast since January 2011. “This latest confirmation is sobering because Kentucky has a tremendous number of caves and bats — and more bat hibernacula [hibernation sites] —than anybody even knows about,” said Keel. Photo by craig Stihler Aesculapian Winter/Spring 2012 13
Page 1 and 2: The University of Georgia Aesculapi
Page 3 and 4: The threat of White-Nose Syndrome i
Page 5 and 6: CollegeNews UGA research animal res
Page 7 and 8: SCWDS in the news The Southeastern
Page 9 and 10: W e l c o m e t o t h e C l a s s o
Page 11 and 12: Photo by Stephanie Schupska From le
Page 13: New scholarship for FAVIP honors Go
Page 17 and 18: A tri-colored bat ready for testing
Page 19 and 20: Lisa Last, wildlife veterinarian, p
Page 21 and 22: 2011 Phi Zeta Veterinary Honor Soci
Page 23 and 24: Sabrina McGraw CVM’s first gradua
Page 25 and 26: Kruger National Park Externship Pro
Page 27 and 28: FacultyNews project, entitled “Im
Page 29 and 30: New Faculty Dr. Melinda Camus, lect
Page 31 and 32: ClassNotes Steve Bowen (DVM ’71)
Page 33 and 34: Brown and Barineau receive 2011 Fra
Page 35 and 36: Dr. Kevin Chapman (DVM ’88) is cu
Page 37 and 38: Invest in the Future Help us ensure
Page 39 and 40: WHAT FEEDS YOU ____________________

Winter/Spring 2012 Aesculapian Magazine - University of Georgia ...

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