It has been a couple years since I heavily researched IBD. I had read about IBD in a few books, and wanted to see how concerned I should get before investing further in boas. You will hear many things from many people. I spoke to several vets and plenty of research facilities. I wanted to know all I could to protect my boas.

At that time, blood tests and biopsies were inconclusive. They could show a positive match for IBD, but anything negative meant nothing. Negative results simply meant that the disease was not active. I spoke to a few vets (and a couple leaders in IBD studies) that wanted to peg anything with neurological symptoms as IBD. This was hard for me to take. I think IBD is a concern, but when the so-called experts want to throw it around, that bothers me.

Also, from my findings, I find it interesting that during IBD discussions, paramyxovirus never enters the converstaion. This virus has very similar symptoms.

IBD or something similar has hit some big collections and zoos. IBD is not licked scientifically. I am no vet, and I am not claiming to be an expert, but even findings and results pointing to IBD does not mean IBD.

What I'm expressing is that even though there are researchers and "experts", I'm not convinced any of them know as much as they claim. Also, I do not want anyone to get a false sense of security by receiving good results from inconclusive testing. Just as in any other field, some of these vets, in my opinion, were simply trying to be the first, or the leader, in the area of IBD. If someone claims to have documented 1,000 cases of IBD, he/she may be considered the leader in the field. How many of those were actually IBD?

I did read some theories that IBD was airborn. I have never found a case study that supported this. The studies I read supported transmission by transfer of fluids.
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Phil Goss
www.GossReptiles.com

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