that Dr Johnson presented his talk on for YFD, May 6th - 11th. He contacted me a few months ago to gather data, treatment and picture for his presentation. He had treated a dragon with this a few years ago. That dragon was put down and the owners contacted me when a second one was ill. That is the family that he based his presentation on to your vet and others to educate them about YFD.
About you dragon and the treatment your vet is using. He really does need to have the external addressed also with topical asap. Dr Jean Pare, University of Wisconsin, who I consider the top authority in the US at this time on fungi and reptiles recommends debriefing the area with nolvasan and topicals, you can print out the below and take discuss with your Vet, but we know this is the path that it follows now and this is what he said in an email to me when we were trying to trace the nature of the disease and the routine it follows.
"If fungal growth is in its initial stage,
simple shedding can eliminate the fungus. I believe (again I could be wrong)
that disease typically starts as a dermatomycosis (fungal skin infection)
and later disseminates to organs. Reptiles do not have much tissue between
the skin and the muscles, therefore it is relatively easy for fungi to move
through the skin to deeper tissues and organs"
We now know that even with the oral meds, it can move into the tissue, blood and organs becoming septic very fast. Treating with nolvasan washes/rinse and topical meds will NOT harm the dragon and it will help, it works fairly fast to halt it moving into tissue and blood while the oral meds clear their digestive system. Other professionals and Dr Pare agree this should be followed now.
Itraconazole is the med that we currently think is the best one to use. It did not respond to Terbinafine, and Fluconazole did kill the fungus but is too harsh, causing kidney damage. This is also a reason why we have switched to using a pulse method for the meds (every other day). It helps them deal with the meds and keep eating. We hope to have a dosing and time period down that works but has little side effects soon.
To clarify, we do not have this in our breeder colony, we did lose two in 2001 to it that we had bought. Until Dr Pare or another University researcher has funding to support housing and treating dragons with this and finding the meds that cure it, we do accept dragons that are infected with it and treat them. They are in strict quarantine from our other reptiles, treated humanely, guided by Dr Pare and monitored closely by our own Vet here. All data, pictures and results we collect are shared with Dr Pare and other Vets, alllowed to be used freely. This is a great example of owners, breeders and the medical community working together to sharing their ill animals, information, and finding answers that are working.
Two years ago, all dragons that contacted this died, a year ago many still did, but now the majority survive, due to others working together, willing to educate their peers and looking to the future of this species.
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www.reptilerooms.com
I'll probably call her tomorrow.
