A striking feature of white-nose syndrome, a fungal infection of hibernating bats, is the difference in infection outcome between North America and Europe. Here we show high WNS prevalence both in Europe and on the West Siberian Plain in Asia. Palearctic bat communities tolerate similar fungal loads of Pseudogymnoascus destructans infection as their Nearctic counterparts and histopathology indicates equal focal skin tissue invasiveness pathognomonic for WNS lesions. Fungal load positively correlates with disease intensity and it reaches highest values at intermediate latitudes. Prevalence and fungal load dynamics in Palearctic bats remained persistent and high between 2012 and 2014. Dominant haplotypes of five genes are widespread in North America, Europe and Asia, expanding the source region of white-nose syndrome to non-European hibernacula. Our data provides evidence for both endemicity and tolerance to this persistent virulent fungus in the Palearctic, suggesting that host-pathogen interaction equilibrium has been established.

Centre for Cartography of Fauna and Flora Antoličičeva 1 SI 2204 Miklavž na Dravskem polju Slovenia

Department of Botany and Zoology Masaryk University Kotlářská 2 611 37 Brno Czech Republic

Department of Botany Faculty of Science Charles University Prague Benátská 2 128 01 Prague Czech Republic

Department of Ecology and Diseases of Game Fish and Bees University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno Palackeho 1 3 612 42 Brno Czech Republic

Institute of Biostatistics and Analysis Masaryk University Kamenice 3 625 00 Brno Czech Republic

Institute of Molecular Physiology and Genetics Slovak Academy of Sciences Vlárska 5 83334 Bratislava Slovakia

Institute of Vertebrate Biology Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Květná 8 603 65 Brno Czech Republic

Laboratory of Fungal Genetics and Metabolism Institute of Microbiology Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Vídeňská 1083 142 20 Prague 4 Czech Republic

Latvian State Forest Research Institute Silava 111 Rigas str LV 2169 Salaspils Latvia

Ural State Pedagogical University Kosmonavtov str 26 620017 Yekaterinburg Russia

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Sci Rep. 2016 May 20;6:26049. doi: 10.1038/srep26049. PubMed

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