BBC NEWS | Americas | US bats fall victim to mystery illness
White noise syndrome has killed thousands of bats so far in Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.
There are a lot of similarities between this illness and the Colony Collapse Disorder of bees (both involve weakened immune systems and strange behavior as well as no clearly discernable cause). Scientists are in fact investigating if there is a connection, and loss of both species are likely to affect crop production (bats eat insects like grasshoppers, locusts, and moths that eat crops). Bats also help keep mosquito populations down.