Sure, bats, like many animals can spread disease to one another when they are in close proximity, by touching and grooming one another. But did you know that bats may also be able to spread vaccines to one another in this way? USGS scientists have been field-testing a vaccine for white-nose syndrome for the past few years. The initial version of the vaccine was administered orally, by pipetting the vaccine into the mouths of each bat one-by-one. That takes a long time, and it requires capturing and directly interacting with each bat. 

Now, USGS scientists are working on a different approach: topical vaccines that bats can spread to one another when they groom each other. So far, they have applied topical vaccine to individual hand-captured bats, but the ultimate goal is to develop a method to spray the vaccine on structures bats use, like bat houses, to minimize disruption to bats and apply the vaccine more efficiently. This year, they have been testing the potential delivery medium, which doesn’t contain the vaccine yet, but contains a biomarker that will help scientists assess uptake by bats and whether it can work for the vaccine.

Background image: Bats showing signs of infections with Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome. (Kimberli Miller, USGS).

This United States Geological Survey news article "Fire up the 3D printer! It’s 2024 and it’s time to study some bats!" was originally found on https://www.usgs.gov/news