High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a poorly understood disease associated with the deaths of at least 5.7 million to 6.7 million North American bats. The condition, named for a distinctive fungal growth around the muzzles and on the wings of hibernating bats, was first identified in a cave in Schoharie County, New York, USA, in February 2006. It has rapidly spread and as of spring 2010, the condition had been found in over 115 caves and mines ranging mostly throughout the Northeastern US and as far south as Alabama and west to Missouri and into four Canadian provinces.