Quote Originally Posted by jim020cricket View Post
Does he say how he would like the reptile industry to support research?
I think it's outlined in the last paragraph of the Reptiles Magazine article he wrote.

I think the problem is that the industry has not really supported research. I mean, I've seen interviews with some of the larger boid breeders who have poo-poo'd the disease.

Not to beat a dead horse, but if comparisons are being made to IBD being the snake equivalent to HIV - what does that mean? If people were to diagnose HIV based on symptoms, only the people who came down with full blown AIDS would be studied. As we know, not everyone who has HIV immediately develops a full-blown case of AIDS - the latency period can be in excess of 20 years.

So if necropsies done on a boid species show that anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 of animals that died of non-IBD causes tested positive for the retrovirus, the worst case scenario is that 1/3 of animals carry the virus but are in a latency period where while they are asymptomatic, they can potentially still infect other boids.

How many breeders to you know that are performing necropsies on their animal who die? It's not uncommon for a breeder to lose an animal with no apparent symptoms or warning. How many breeders are performing liver or tissue biopsies to randomly screen for the disease? How many are donating money to IBD research?

I think the answer in many cases is "not many". There may be some exceptions to the rule but I can provide links to the interview I referred to above.