white nose syndrome, Epidemic disease of hibernating bats in North America caused by the growth of a fungus, Geomyces destructans, in the skin of the nose and ears and in the membrane covering the wings. The fungus is spread mainly through contact between infected and uninfected bats or between bats and caves where the fungus is present. It is the first epizootic (epidemic) disease documented in bats and is associated with high mortality. The first massive die-off was reported in 2007, when as many as 11,000 bats, showing signs of fungal infection, perished at cave sites near Albany, N.Y. Biologists estimated that between 5.7 and 6.7 million bats died from white nose syndrome in the first six years after its detection in 2006 at Howe Caverns near Albany. The disease subsequently spread to New England and later was found in caves throughout the Appalachian Mountains, including sites in New Brunswick, Can., and as far south as the U.S. states of Tennessee, South Carolina, and Georgia. It later spread farther west in the United States and into additional areas in eastern Canada.