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Abstract

Background: White nose syndrome (WNS) is a disease in bats caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans that can result in bat mortality rates of over 90%. WNS was discovered in Georgia in 2012 in 3 counties but has continued to spread to 14 counties as of 2023, with P. destructans detected in a further seven. Biodiversity loss has been linked to human health outcomes including infant mortality. Understanding the link between WNS, biodiversity loss, and infant mortality in Georgia is important because Georgia ranks 42nd out of the 50 states for infant mortality rate.

Methods: Using panel data from 129 Georgia counties from 2014 through 2019 we use a random effects Poisson regression model to estimate the relationship between detection of P. destructans, WNS, and infant mortality. We control for a variety of social determinants of health.

Results: We find evidence that detection of P. destructans and WNS are associated with increased infant mortality. The results for P. destructans are more robust to different lags than detection of WNS itself. The percentage of the county population that lives in rural areas is the only other variable associated with infant mortality.

Conclusions: The evidence of the relationship between P. destructans and WNS and infant mortality is strong. Moreover, the interdependence of people, animals, and the environment suggests multiple stakeholders, including public health officials, will need to be involved in monitoring the situation, raising awareness, and formulating solutions.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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