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A fungus that has killed millions of bats across the U.S. and Canada has been found in Wisconsin, the state Department of Natural Resources said Thursday.

The disease has spread to 25 states since it was first observed in 2006 near Albany, N.Y.

It kills up to 95 percent of bats hibernating in infected enclosures such as caves, barns or mines, DNR officials said.

Regional extinctions of the animals are worrisome. Because they eat so many insects, bats prevent billions of dollars of damage to crops and forests, while slowing the spread of mosquito-borne diseases such as West Nile Virus.

Signs of disease were found in Wisconsin on March 28 by a team of five scientists conducting an annual survey of places where bats hibernate.

In an abandoned Grant County lead mine, they found 11 brown bats that appeared to have contracted Pseudogymnoascus destructans, more commonly called white-nose syndrome because of the discoloration it causes. Lab tests on two bats removed from the cave confirmed that they had the disease.

The discovery came on the last day of a survey that had found no evidence of disease in 85 other places.