The association between bats and Halloween dates back thousands of years.

It's based on the superstition that they're omens of death.

And now, as Ali Rogan tells us, North American bats are facing a deadly threat themselves.

For nearly two decades bats across North America have been decimated by a deadly disease called

White Nose Syndrome, patches of pale white fuzz caused by a fungus appear

on infected bats. First observed in 2006, the pathogen quickly began spreading after

appearing in New York State.

It has since killed millions of bats across the country.

Yet according to recent reporting in the New York Times,

for the first time in years,

researchers are feeling hopeful in their fight against the disease.

Carl Zimmer is a columnist for the New York Times

and recently wrote about this.

Thank you so much for joining us.

So how did White Nose Syndrome begin? and why did it spread so quickly?

It originated in Europe and in Europe the bats there are able to fight it off.

Somehow this fungus was able to get across the Atlantic.

It's possible a traveler was exploring a cave in Europe, got it on his boot, and then

they traveled to New York and the sport was spread here.

But once it got to the United States,

the bats themselves started to spread it

across the entire continent.

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