Reptile & Amphibian Forums

anyone ever heard of it jumping species? "Dr. Mom" wants to know if I'm at risk of it for having been and continuing to be the snake janitor. Am I?

Antigone

No it only affects boids. Now if you were one of those "half serpent half woman" things they have at the county fairs..... haha, I'm just kidding, those things have always made me laugh though.

>>No it only affects boids.

>>>>>>>

Actually, that may not be a factual statement. Although Boids are primarily affected by it, research has not shown that it does NOT affect other species, just that Boids seem to be particularly susceptible to IBD Virus.

Not enough research has been done to claim it is a Boid only disease. Too little still known about it, and it's transmission.
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Richard Carew
Sunset BCI
You laugh at me cuz I'm different! I laugh at you cuz you're all the same.
Stop Inhumane and Illegal Practices

I should think it's entirely possible for snakes other than Boids to carry the virus with no obvious symptoms or adverse effects.
What is the viability outside the host? Can't think of the term.
How long is it virulent en vivo?
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

I actually read a research paper online once that talked of a Trimerasuris (sp) having very similar inclusions present in it's tissues, but was suffering no ill affects when they chopped it up for research. The paper didn't ID it as IBD, but mentioned it was very similar looking to IBD found in Boids. So who knows, it may even have more than one strain, or affect other species differently, or not at all, but make them carriers instead.

Not sure how long it can live outside the host. To be honest, I have never read anything specifically about that. But it's suspected you can transmit via your clothes, or merely cleaning an infected cage, and then cleaning another without practically sterilizing yourself. It may be airborne to a certain degree, it may come from mites too.

If it's any help, I have 3 friends who destroyed their entire collections, due to one infected snake being brought in. One of those friends practices STRICT quarantine, and it still got the rest of his collection.

>>I should think it's entirely possible for snakes other than Boids to carry the virus with no obvious symptoms or adverse effects.
>>What is the viability outside the host? Can't think of the term.
>>How long is it virulent en vivo?
>>jsc
>>-----
>>"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
>>John Crickmer
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Richard Carew
Sunset BCI
You laugh at me cuz I'm different! I laugh at you cuz you're all the same.
Stop Inhumane and Illegal Practices

A correction to my above post. It was not Trimerasuris I was thinking of..

"Exclusively, members of the family Boidae have been diagnosed with this infection, but evidence exists that other reptile species either may act as carriers of the virus or may show different clinical and pathological signs than Boa ans Pythons, and therefor may go undiagnosed.
A study of captive bred, and wild caught Palm Vipers (Bothriechis marchi) with clinical signs similar to boid snakes with IBD showed eosinophilic inclusions with ultra-structural features similar to IBD."

source veterinary reference manual......Reptile Medicine and Surgery, Douglas Mader, DVM... 2nd edition 2006, Chapter 60.

Point I'm making is it may not be ONLY a Boid disease.

I'll see if my friend feels like telling his own story. I hate regurgitating someone else's words. But evidence says, no contact is needed either, to spread this disease.

Y'all can take your chances if you want, I choose not to until more is known.
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Richard Carew
Sunset BCI
You laugh at me cuz I'm different! I laugh at you cuz you're all the same.
Stop Inhumane and Illegal Practices

When a disease can be communicated from one species to another it is a zoonotic disease, and the transfer is called zoonosis. IBD is not zoonotic to humans. It is peculiar among boids.

If you havent already checked this link have a look and the sources cited will provide some additional insight.
http://www.anapsid.org/ibd.html

Thank you all. Mum will be happier. And thanks for the link to Kaplan's page again; I'd read it and forgotten about it. I have it printed out now.

Antigone