The discovery makes Pennsylvania the sixth state to become affected by the mysterious fungal ailment, which poses no threat to humans.

The Morning Call reports a citizen found dead bats outside the abandoned mine near Carbondale. Experts say the bats should not have emerged from hibernation for another six weeks.

Bats affected by the "white-nose syndrome” have smudges of the white fungus around their noses.

While scientists know little of the disease, evidence suggests the disorder brings the bats out of winter hibernation early because the infection causes them to use up their stored energy. They then go hunting for food in the dead of winter, eventually starving to death.

The disease first surfaced in some bat hibernation caves in eastern New York state, where it has killed up to 90 percent of the bats in affected caves. Hundreds of thousands of the flying mammals are feared to have perished so far in the Northeast.

“The cause for concern is that this is going to race across the country faster than we can come up with a solution,” cautioned Alan Hicks, a wildlife biologist with New York state's Department of Environmental Conservation.

Wildlife experts worry that the decline in the number of bats may disrupt the ecology as bats help keep mosquito and other insect numbers in check.

Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service