Ibd concern as a human

[Regius_049]

There is no clinical evidence IBD can be transmitted to humans. Any diseases known to infect certain species or kingdom has a very difficult time adapting to and infecting genetically dissimilar species. Considering how different people are from snakes and reptiles genetically, it is very unlikely the disease can "jump" to humans. Now the possibility exists, but if it were the case, considering how widespread reptile ownership is, you would have seen some evidence of human infection by now.

Arenaviruses are known to infect and use rodents as hosts, so it is possible IBD developed from snakes cusuming rodents somewhere in ages past, but this is mostly speculation. The spread and source of IBD is not currently well researched, but there has been some anecdotal evidence that mites can spread the disease. There have been reports of collections that became mite infested and IBD spread throughout said collection.

Prevalence of IBD has been estimated in some peer-reviewed journals, most notably by E. Jacobson. Prevalence disproportionately favors boa constrictors (BCIs), but has been found in vipers, ball pythons, rainbow boas, dumerials boas, haitian boas, and reticulated pythons. There was also a report of an eastern kingsnake with IBD-like symptoms, but actual disease was never confirmed as far as I know. In boa constrictors, a US study and german study found the prevalence in to be anywhere from 9.4% to as high as 42%. This data was from approximately 30 collections each and roughly 85% of snakes appeared clinically healthy. While ball pythons and other non-boas have been known to get the disease, within the aforementioned studies, no ball pythons were observed to have IBD using both HE staining techniques and PCR testing. Within the tests, one out of four reticulated pythons was diagnosed with IBD as well as 2/16 burmese pythons and 4/35 rainbow boas.

It is worth noting however that 17.8% of ball pythons were diagnosed with paramyxovirus. In short, I would wager a few things: (1) IBD is not widespread throughout captive ball python collections, but it is likely sub-clinical in many boa constrictor collections and people who observe IBD in ball pythons probably also keep boa constrictors. (2) If a ball python was infected with IBD, I do not beleive the "common knowldge" that pthons succumb to the disease "quickly" or within weeks is likely accurate in many cases or should be taken as a rule. That said, paramyxovirus should be far more concerning for ball python owners.

So what can you do about it? You can have your ball python tested by specialized institutes such as florida university or Northwest zoopath. While PCR testing is the current standard for boa constrictors, I am unconvinced this is valuable for snakes outside this species as I have yet to see a ball python or even rainbow boa that was able to be diagnosed in this fashion in reported works. However, it is possible I do not have all the data in that regard. HE staining from either an organ biopsy or observed peripherial white blood cells from a blood sample have shown to be able to diagnose disease in multiple species, but no option is foolproof.