Scientists at Mass. meeting say drugs, antiseptics may help fight fungus that’s killing bats

Scientists in Mass.: Drugs may fight bat disease

BOSTON — Scientists at a meeting in Massachusetts say they may have found some ways to help the nation’s bats, which are being wiped out by a novel fungal disease.

Lab tests show several drugs can fight the germ and some antiseptics might help decontaminate areas where bats live or the shoes and hands of people who visit them. More research is needed to see if using these tools is practical and safe.

More than 1 million bats have died from the fungal disease, called white-nose syndrome. The disease first was seen in Albany, N.Y., in 2006 and has spread as far south as Tennessee and as far west as Oklahoma.

Scientists described the new research at a microbiology meeting in Boston on Sunday.