You're right, we all have inclusion bodies, that proves nothing.

Anapsid says they determined with the electron microscope that it is a retrovirus.
"Electron microscopy has found that the organism falls into the retrovirus category." It's at the end of paragraph 5 here:
http://www.anapsid.org/ibd.html
Read at the bottom of the article too where it says "Q: Can the disease be diagnosed in live snakes?" We are getting closer to a blood test for boas. Right now it looks like it's only a indicator however.

You might be interested in this article from Veterinary Pathology Journal form UCDavis:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11055868?dopt=Abstract
Basically they are showing the relationship of the retrovirus to the inclusion bodies. By reading it you can see that we no longer just look for something we all have: inclusion bodies. We look for the ones associated with IBD. They are antigenically distinct IBDV-associated proteins, they are not just any old inclusion bodies. In the study they also make use of liver biopsies on live boa constrictors too. Something to think about. It would be great if we could know with certainty if an animal has IBD before taking it's life.
-----
Caden Chapman
slithering.serpents@gmail.com
http://slitheringserpents.com

[ Show Entire Thread ]