BACKGROUND: Spatiotemporal distribution patterns are important infectious disease epidemiological characteristics that improve our understanding of wild animal population health. The skin infection caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans emerged as a panzootic disease in bats of the northern hemisphere. However, the infection status of bats over an extensive geographic area of the Russian Federation has remained understudied. RESULTS: We examined bats at the geographic limits of bat hibernation in the Palearctic temperate zone and found bats with white-nose syndrome (WNS) on the European slopes of the Ural Mountains through the Western Siberian Plain, Central Siberia and on to the Far East. We identified the diagnostic symptoms of WNS based on histopathology in the Northern Ural region at 11° (about 1200 km) higher latitude than the current northern limit in the Nearctic. While body surface temperature differed between regions, bats at all study sites hibernated in very cold conditions averaging 3.6 °C. Each region also differed in P. destructans fungal load and the number of UV fluorescent skin lesions indicating skin damage intensity. Myotis bombinus, M. gracilis and Murina hilgendorfi were newly confirmed with histopathological symptoms of WNS. Prevalence of UV-documented WNS ranged between 16 and 76% in species of relevant sample size. CONCLUSIONS: To conclude, the bat pathogen P. destructans is widely present in Russian hibernacula but infection remains at low intensity, despite the high exposure rate.

Department of Biochemistry Ural State Medical University Repina 3 620014 Ekaterinburg Russia

Department of Ecology and Diseases of Game Fish and Bees University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno Palackého tř 1946 1 612 42 Brno Czech Republic

Institute of Biology and Soil Science Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Pr t 100 letiya Vladivostoka 159 690022 Vladivostok Russia

Institute of Biostatistics and Analyses Masaryk University Kamenice 126 3 625 00 Brno Czech Republic

Institute of Botany and Zoology Masaryk University Kotlářská 267 2 611 37 Brno Czech Republic

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

International Complex Research Laboratory for Study of Climate Change Land Use and Biodiversity Tyumen State University Volodarckogo 6 625003 Tyumen Russia

Irkutsk State Medical University Krasnogo Vosstania street 1 Irkutsk Russian Federation 664003

Western Baikal protected areas Federal State Budgetary Institution Zapovednoe Pribaikalye Baikalskaya st 291B 664050 Irkutsk Russia

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