(RALEIGH) -- White-nose syndrome, the disease that has killed hundreds of thousands of bats in the eastern United States, has been discovered in a closed mine in Avery County and in a cave at Grandfather Mountain State Park. The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission confirmed that this marks the arrival of the disease in North Carolina.

“White-nose syndrome is confirmed in Virginia and Tennessee, so we expected we would be one of the next states to see the disease,” said Gabrielle Graeter, a biologist with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. “This discovery marks the arrival of one of the most devastating threats to bat conservation in our time.”

State wildlife officials said on Wednesday that in the Northeast, the disease has decimated some species of bats. It is not known if the disease will impact all bat species in all regions of the country the same way. Officials though did note that bat mortality and the diversity of species affected in the Northeast suggest the impacts will be significant.

North Carolina is home to three federally endangered bats, the Virginia big-eared, Indiana, and gray.