Just going through my notes for school (we just had a guest speaker who happens to be a registered vet tech who works with some of the best exotic docs at Texas A&M and the University of Texas...and she runs her own reptile rescue). Anyway, she was filling us in on some of newer treatments for URIs and thought I'd share:

Naturally, vets are being encouraged to perform a cuture and sensitivity for any URI due to the fact that the bacteria responsible for the infections has become resistant to Baytril (enrofloxin). This is mostly due to indiscriminate scripts for the antibiotic (it happens to every vet...the client doesn't have the money for a c&s and asks for "something"...yes, it's cheaper for the client, but in the long run, we're not doing our snakes any favors by quickly eliminating every antibiotic in our arsenal to "save a buck."). Vets are now going to the aminoglycosides, amikacin, gentocin, ceftazidime. Two things that I found kinda interesting is that a few vets are experimenting with nebulizing amikacin (10-30 minutes 2-4 times a day for about a week) to get the antibiotic directly to the site of the infection (with the added bonus of not having to give something orally or by injection)! A very promising method! And the tech who spoke to us is working with another doctor who is experimenting with injecting the prey item with antibiotics then feeding it to the snake (the only caveat to this method being that the snake needs to be eating well).

Anyway, that's all I got so far...hope it helps someone out!

Jen