The scary thing is that some of the most diabolical diseases have come from animal - human virus mutation
Take for example, Ebola
It was first seen destroying great ape populations. Well, after time the wild meat trade got "dilluted" with the ebola virus. Many ape "african bush meat" was infected with Ebola
when people ate that meat, over time the virus learned it could expand and started to become infectious to humans
Now, Ebola boasts a 90 - 100% fatality rate and the ability to come out of nowhere and decimate villages, then disappear without a trace.
(NOTE: Ebola is a disease I would never want to encounter, the pathogen eats your veins and arteries from the inside, it feeds on the muscle tissue of your organs and it causes bleeding out of your eyes, ears, nose, throat.. ect so when I said "diabolical" I meant it)
Who's to say this cant happen with snakes and us?
Millions of snakes are owned as pets (and many get IBD). under the right conditions the virus could "leap" and infect us.
Thats not a opinion, thats fact
Scary stuff if you think about it