Almost 20% of studies snakes infected. Almost 90% asymptomatic.
My prediction, people will still buy breed and sell boids without ever thinking about testing or donating to research. Guess people would rather be saving all their shiny dimes and pennies to buy that new color morph rather than to avoid wiping out their collection. People need to pull their heads out of their rectums and realize not only how prevalent it is, but that most animals infected DO NOT SHOW ANY SYMPTOMS.
While the summary is interesting, there were a few questions left unanswered that IMO are important.
- How were the test subject selected?
- How old were the test subjects?
- How many times had each test subject been moved to a different collection?
- What kinds of collections and/or sellers are in each snake's history (e.g. private owners only vs large wholesaler vs pet store)?
- Were all of the test subjects from the same current collection?
- If the answer to the prior question is "No", how many of the snakes that tested positive but were asymptomatic were from a collection with one that tested positive and was showing symptoms of the disease?
- Had IBD ever been suspected in the collection(s) from which these snakes were drawn prior to the study?
Chaos theory...nature finds a way when humans try to play "God for profit"!!
I asked my Grandad once about a dead squirrel in the road he said "Son, thats Mother Nature weeding out the weak. A smart squirrel doesn't play in the road!" lol
Definitely gonna ask my DVM Monday...
While the summary is interesting, there were a few questions left unanswered that IMO are important.
- How were the test subject selected?
- How old were the test subjects?
- How many times had each test subject been moved to a different collection?
- What kinds of collections and/or sellers are in each snake's history (e.g. private owners only vs large wholesaler vs pet store)?
- Were all of the test subjects from the same current collection?
- If the answer to the prior question is "No", how many of the snakes that tested positive but were asymptomatic were from a collection with one that tested positive and was showing symptoms of the disease?
- Had IBD ever been suspected in the collection(s) from which these snakes were drawn prior to the study?
So you read the whole study? Or only the abstract?
The results are consistent with what researchers have been telling keepers for years. Prevalence can be as high as 33% (in this study it was 20%) and the vast majority of animals are asymptomatic.
With that information in mind, there is absolutely no reason that keeper should not be donating to BIBD research and making an effort to screen their animals.
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Originally Posted by zina10
