Recent news has declared that the area west of the Mississippi River is threatened to be affected by a disease that led to the death of millions of bats.

According to sources, it has been revealed that millions of bats across US and Canada died of a deadly disease called white nose syndrome. The disease causative agent is a white fungus which was recovered from the wings and faces of the infected bats. This disease wakes the bats from their winter hibernation. The bats, hence, start flying in the cold weather due to which they die.

However, it has been confirmed that humans and other animals have no risk of being infected by this disease.

However, the wildlife officials have stated that the disease can easily affect the crops, as a main portion of their feed is crop pests, it has been estimated that the gray bats eat about 540 tons of pests each year.

The cases of affected bats due to the disease were first reported in 2006, when the disease hit the hibernating bats in west of Albany, N. Y. The trends show that till now, bats hibernating from the Northeast to the South were affected, this is the second time after Kentucky; the west area is to be affected.

It has been revealed that the disease has already started its deadly effects and the disease has been diagnosed in three bats.

Mollie Matteson, a bat specialist with the conservation group Center for Biological Diversity said, “First the fungus shows up on a few healthy bats. A couple of years later, the disease strikes. And if the pattern continues, we can expect that in another few years, the majority of Missouri's hibernating bats will be dead”.