{"accessLevel": "public", "bureauCode": ["010:12"], "contactPoint": {"@type": "vcard:Contact", "fn": "Tonie E Rocke", "hasEmail": "mailto:trocke@usgs.gov"}, "description": "White-nose syndrome (WNS) caused by the fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd) has killed millions of North American insect-eating bats. Currently, methods to prevent the disease are limited. We conducted two trials to assess potential WNS vaccine candidates in wild-caught Myotis lucifugus.  In a pilot study, we immunized bats with one of four vaccine treatments or PBS as a control and challenged them with Pd upon transfer into hibernation chambers.  Bats in one vaccine-treated group, that received raccoon poxviruses (RCN) expressing Pd calnexin  (CAL) and serine protease (SP), developed WNS at a lower rate (1/10) than other treatments combined (14/23), although samples sizes were small.  The results of a second similar trial provided additional support for this observation. Bats vaccinated orally or by injection with RCN-CAL and RCN-SP survived Pd challenge at a significantly higher rate (P = 0.01) than controls.  Using RT-PCR and flow cytometry, combined with fluorescent in situ hybridization, we determined that expression of IFN-\u03b3 transcripts and the number of CD4+ T-helper cells transcribing this gene were elevated (P <0.10) in stimulated lymphocytes from surviving vaccines (n=15) compared to controls (n=3). We conclude that vaccination with virally-vectored Pd antigens induced antifungal immunity that could potentially protect bats against WNS.", "distribution": [{"@type": "dcat:Distribution", "accessURL": "https://doi.org/10.5066/P923NSSG", "description": "Landing page for access to the data", "format": "XML", "mediaType": "application/http", "title": "Digital Data"}, {"@type": "dcat:Distribution", "description": "The metadata original format", "downloadURL": "https://data.usgs.gov/datacatalog/metadata/USGS.5cba419de4b0c3b006618584.xml", "format": "XML", "mediaType": "text/xml", "title": "Original Metadata"}], "identifier": "http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/USGS_5cba419de4b0c3b006618584", "keyword": ["Madison, Wisconsin", "USGS National Wildlife Health Center", "USGS:5cba419de4b0c3b006618584", "bats", "biota", "vaccination", "white-nose syndrome"], "modified": "2020-08-21T00:00:00Z", "publisher": {"@type": "org:Organization", "name": "U.S. Geological Survey"}, "spatial": "-89.485724, 43.048146, -89.483200, 43.050200", "theme": ["geospatial"], "title": "Virally-vectored vaccine candidates against white-nose syndrome induce anti-fungal immune response in little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus)"}