Nido Virus NOT just in Gtp's / Morelia ?

I haven't really heard that much about Nido Virus before.

When I have heard it mentioned, it was usually regarding Green Tree Pythons and some Morelia species.

A recent thread I've been following mentioned a GTP that was purchased from Underground Reptiles. It died after a short display of RI symptoms. That snake was sent in and tested positive for Nido Virus.

A lot of information followed in that thread, and it was mentioned that this Virus has been found in all kinds of pythons, even Boas. One lady mentioned that she lost her entire collection of Ball Pythons to what was presumed as being a new strain of possible Paramyxovirus. As it turns out, it was actually Nido Virus.
Researchers that published a paper in 2014 also studied snakes from other owners whose entire collections got wiped out.

Apparently some snakes can be affected without showing symptoms right away? No-one is 100% sure how it is spread? However, it can wipe out entire collections with nothing much to be done about it.

At this moment I'm researching all I can find, but do not know much, yet. Trying to find that published paper. It all sounds quite concerning to me. People usually don't worry about it, until they get hit :( All it takes is one infected snake or possibly, handling an infected snake.

I already change all my clothes and shower before I come near my animals, after I was in a petstore with reptiles or if I were to go to a reptile expo. Quarantine is extremely important as well.

There is more out there, then just IBD (which is commonly known and feared..)

Does anyone know more about Nido virus? Please share if you do..I'm trying to gather as much info and facts as I can.

appreciate it !

There are a few breeders trying to bring awareness to it. There are several videos on facebook about it as well. There is a company in Texas that will test for it (RAL). It is not a new disease just becoming a topic of discussion more frequently as of late.
The general consensus from what I have heard/read is is is more common in gtp's and carpet pythons but has been seen in ball pythons and other species of snakes. There are some snakes that live with it showing no signs or symptoms for years. Some get it and die rather quickly. From what I understand is it is not the nido that kills them, nido simply suppresses their immune system and allows an opportunistic virus or bacteria to take hold and kill the animal. Testing costs about 35.00 per animal if I remember correctly, not a lot for someone with only 1 snake however very expensive for large scale breeders. Another issue is it is possible to get false negatives when testing for it.
Understanding all of this makes it pretty obvious why some large scale breeders would not want to even talk about this disease let alone admit if they ever had a snake in their collection with it. Just a rumor about it could essentially destroy someone's business as well as livelihood.
I personally plan on getting all of our stuff tested and re-tested. From this point on everything that comes in will be tested at the beginning of and end of quarantine. I don't have any animals showing and signs of illness however for me it is not worth the risk.

I'm not familiar with it but a breeder who's snakes I'd been eyeing has just had most of his snakes test positive for it. I'll definitely be following this thread.

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Originally Posted by MD_Pythons

I'm not familiar with it but a breeder who's snakes I'd been eyeing has just had most of his snakes test positive for it. I'll definitely be following this thread.

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Wow...dang!

i'm following this thread with interest as well. thank you zina for bringing this to my attention; i've never heard of this.

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Originally Posted by enginee837

There are a few breeders trying to bring awareness to it. There are several videos on facebook about it as well. There is a company in Texas that will test for it (RAL). It is not a new disease just becoming a topic of discussion more frequently as of late.
The general consensus from what I have heard/read is is is more common in gtp's and carpet pythons but has been seen in ball pythons and other species of snakes. There are some snakes that live with it showing no signs or symptoms for years. Some get it and die rather quickly. From what I understand is it is not the nido that kills them, nido simply suppresses their immune system and allows an opportunistic virus or bacteria to take hold and kill the animal. Testing costs about 35.00 per animal if I remember correctly, not a lot for someone with only 1 snake however very expensive for large scale breeders. Another issue is it is possible to get false negatives when testing for it.
Understanding all of this makes it pretty obvious why some large scale breeders would not want to even talk about this disease let alone admit if they ever had a snake in their collection with it. Just a rumor about it could essentially destroy someone's business as well as livelihood.
I personally plan on getting all of our stuff tested and re-tested. From this point on everything that comes in will be tested at the beginning of and end of quarantine. I don't have any animals showing and signs of illness however for me it is not worth the risk.

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I haven't had any animals show any kind of illness, thank god, but it IS scary !!

If it is able to wipe out entire collections (which supposedly it has) it is very concerning. Even "if" it just suppresses the immune system, whatever it does, it seems to spread to the entire collection and whichever problem comes next (simple RI or ?) just wipes them out?

I'm glad more research is being done, because no matter how this virus works, if it has the potential to burn through a collection like this, it is very concerning.

How is the test done? What samples are collected and do the vets collect them and send them in , or ?

Thanks for all the info :)

Here is some published reading on Nido if you want.

1. Bodewes R, Lempp C, Schürch AC, Habierski A, Hahn K, Lamers M, von Dörnberg K, Wohlsein P, Drexler JF, Haagmans BL, Smits SL, Baumgärtner W, Osterhaus AD. Novel divergent nidovirus in a python with pneumonia. J Gen Virol 2014; 95: 2480–2485.

2. Stenglein MD, Jacobson ER, Wozniak EJ, Wellehan JF, Kincaid A, Gordon M, Porter BF, Baumgartner W, Stahl S, Kelley K, Towner JS, DeRisi JL. Ball python nidovirus: a candidate etiologic agent for severe respiratory disease in Python regius. MBio 2014; 5: e01484–14. doi: 10.1128/mBio.01484–14.

3. Uccellini L, Ossiboff RJ, de Matos RE, Morrisey JK, Petrosov A, Navarrete- Macias I, Jain K, Hicks AL, Buckles EL, Tokarz R, McAloose D, Lipkin WI. Identification of a novel nidovirus in an outbreak of fatal respiratory disease in ball pythons (Python regius). Virol J 2014; 11: 144.

4. Dervas, D., et al. "Nidovirus Infection of green tree pythons: Identification and morphological features of a fatal respiratory disease in Morelia viridis." Journal of Comparative Pathology 1.156 (2017): 56.

Also Nido has been found in Skinks too.
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/art...l.pone.0165209

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Here is some published reading on Nido if you want.

1. Bodewes R, Lempp C, Schürch AC, Habierski A, Hahn K, Lamers M, von Dörnberg K, Wohlsein P, Drexler JF, Haagmans BL, Smits SL, Baumgärtner W, Osterhaus AD. Novel divergent nidovirus in a python with pneumonia. J Gen Virol 2014; 95: 2480–2485.

2. Stenglein MD, Jacobson ER, Wozniak EJ, Wellehan JF, Kincaid A, Gordon M, Porter BF, Baumgartner W, Stahl S, Kelley K, Towner JS, DeRisi JL. Ball python nidovirus: a candidate etiologic agent for severe respiratory disease in Python regius. MBio 2014; 5: e01484–14. doi: 10.1128/mBio.01484–14.

3. Uccellini L, Ossiboff RJ, de Matos RE, Morrisey JK, Petrosov A, Navarrete- Macias I, Jain K, Hicks AL, Buckles EL, Tokarz R, McAloose D, Lipkin WI. Identification of a novel nidovirus in an outbreak of fatal respiratory disease in ball pythons (Python regius). Virol J 2014; 11: 144.

4. Dervas, D., et al. "Nidovirus Infection of green tree pythons: Identification and morphological features of a fatal respiratory disease in Morelia viridis." Journal of Comparative Pathology 1.156 (2017): 56.

Also Nido has been found in Skinks too.
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/art...l.pone.0165209

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Thank you!!!

Nido is actually a long time virus in ball pythons. It has a higher mortality rate in GTPs however but can stay dormant for years in them while remaining asymptomatic. Currently they are trying to isolate several different genetic strains in GTPs. Due to cross breeding and breeding stock sharing without enough understanding to quarantine properly, the US breeding stock of GTPs is pretty high in the probability of nidovirus and also due to the hesitance of breeders to step forward and admit infection or being just plain unaware, it is still unclear the percent of stock that is infected.

Nido symptoms are pneumonia like complications from respiratory infections and in GTPs will overwhelm they ability to fight it off when it becomes symptomatic and they will perish from pneumonia complications for the RI symptoms of nido.

In short the market got flooded by inexperienced breeders with a ton of money and a few experienced breeders with lapses in quarantine practices and now we are facing a possible epidemic in GTP breeding stock.

I do not know the actual mortality rate in BPs as either it is low, they are asymptomatic like boas are with IBD or breeders are either ignorant on the spread of it or a not having it diagnosed (requires lab genetic RNA sequencing to confirm) properly and it is being mislabeled as RI in mortality cases.

While we see on this forum a few new owners of BPs have wasting with some underfed and poor will to live specimens, the occurrence of RI in BPs seems to either tapered off or lowered to the point where they are not succumbing to the symptoms associated with nido (RI with no response to antibiotics), are asymptomatic of any disease or simply the spread of nido in BP have dwindled.

One problem is due to the asymptomatic nature in GTP and if possible in ball pythons, simple quarantine procedures may not be sufficient as the only way to rule out is to get lab testing done to confirm the presence of the virus in a breeding stock.

Here is the current thread about the progress of isolating the virus strains and finding out more about it in GTPs.

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/more...es-t26039.html

Here is the CDC report from 2014 on BP nido virus from the 1990s.

I actually was reading up on this for months before thinking on getting a GTP so forgive me if I sound like I am regurgitating information I found online.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zina10

I haven't had any animals show any kind of illness, thank god, but it IS scary !!

If it is able to wipe out entire collections (which supposedly it has) it is very concerning. Even "if" it just suppresses the immune system, whatever it does, it seems to spread to the entire collection and whichever problem comes next (simple RI or ?) just wipes them out?

I'm glad more research is being done, because no matter how this virus works, if it has the potential to burn through a collection like this, it is very concerning.

How is the test done? What samples are collected and do the vets collect them and send them in , or ?

Thanks for all the info :)

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Swab around the nose and heat pits, swab the roof of the mouth.