Respiratory Infection update.

[WingedWolfPsion]

ricky, viral respiratory infections cannot be treated at all, presently. Antibiotics are only effective on bacterial infections. So, if a snake picks up a virus, it's pretty much on its own--you can provide supportive care with heat and nebulizing to help thin mucous secretions, but that's all. Antibiotics may be used to help prevent a secondary bacterial infection from occurring afterward.

Most of the viral snake respiratory infections I am aware of have a high mortality rate. This is why quarantine is so important, and why folks should lengthen quarantine periods to 1 year. Some viral infections can incubate for up to 10 months, and viruses tend to be a great deal more contagious than bacterial infections.

Honestly, biosecurity is much too lax in the general reptile community, and as a result, these illnesses are proliferating. Think of this--if a person receives an infected snake, quarantines it for 3 months, then introduces it to their collection, tries to breed it, then sells the animals that came into contact with it (or its mate), and then 6 months later sells the animal, it's gone, the infected animals are gone, and they never see a problem...and the buyers wind up with these infected animals that develop symptoms later. The first person then winds up with some random snake in their collection getting infected, but they have absolutely no idea how it happened (transfer from one of the infected bins). In the mean time, the second animals to be infected have all had the chance to infect additional animals, because 3 months is simply not a long enough quarantine period to prevent it.

I know of a lot of people who don't even do that much. I wince every time I hear "He's already locking up with my females' right after someone receives an animal. I think it's an increasing problem, and there should be a lot more awareness if we're going to bring these diseases under control. There's no reason why captive snakes should be carrying these illnesses, they're not coming in from contact with wild animals. I've heard so many stories by this point that I'm afraid every time I bring a new animal in, even though I quarantine for a year.