Researchers Identify Virus Attacking Captive Bred Boa Constrictors and Pythons
Long the bane of zoo officials and exotic pet owners, the deadly illness spreads among boas and pythons in captivity, causing micro clumps of clustered proteins to form inside the snake, leading to bacterial infections, neurological problems, anorexia and withering, leading to death. The new work, described this week in the American Society for Microbiology's new open-access journal mBio, paves the way toward developing diagnostics and treatments, which may make it possible to eradicate the disease from snake collections worldwide. "It's a devastating disease when it gets into a collection, zoo or aquarium because it's essentially fatal every time," said Joe DeRisi, PhD, the senior author of the study, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator (HHMI) and vice chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at UCSF. Surprisingly, he said, the cause of the illness appears to be a completely new set of viruses of a type known as an arenavirus. The discovery came as a complete a shock to the team of scientists because, while arenaviruses are common in rodents and cause extremely nasty infections in other mammals, nobody knew they could infect reptiles. "Now we have found that they infect snakes, as well," said Mark Stenglein, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at UCSF who is the first author on the paper. Stenglein, DeRisi and their colleagues isolated at least two strains of the arenaviruses from half a dozen snakes afflicted with inclusion body disease. [1] The article, "Identification, characterization, and in vitro culture of highly divergent arenaviruses from boa constrictors and annulated tree boas: a candidate etiological agent for snake inclusion body disease (IBD)" by Mark D. Stenglein, Chris Sanders, Amy L. Kistler, J. Graham Ruby, Jessica Y. Franco, Drury R. Reavill, Freeland Dunker, and Joseph L. DeRisi is published in the journal mBio. This work was supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the National Institutes of Health. [1]
The fatal condition, called Inclusion Body Disease (IBD), strikes captive pythons and boa constrictors. Snakes with the disease start to display strange behavioural traits, such as'stargazing' - staring upwards for long periods of time. Other symptoms include appearing drunk and getting into a legless tangle. 'They tie themselves in a knot and they can't get out of it,' said U.S. expert Professor Michael Buchmeier, from the University of California at Irvine. IBD gets its name from inclusions, or pockets of foreign material, found in the cells of affected animals. Although the disease is known to be highly infectious, its cause has been a mystery until now. [2] A mysterious condition called Inclusion Body Disease (IBD) strikes captive boa constrictors and pythons, causing bizarre behavioral changes and eventually death. Scientists investigating an outbreak of IBD among snakes at the Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco report they may well have found a virus that is responsible for this common but deadly disease, a discovery that could eventually lead to prevention and treatment options. [3] A deadly disease outbreak that devastates boa constrictors and pythons has been discovered, which scientists call Inclusion Body Disease opnbrktIBDclsbrkt. This disease outbreak among snakes is being investigated by scientists at the Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco. The team said they may have found a virus that is responsible for this common, but deadly disease, which could ultimately help lead to prevention and treatment options. [4]
Scientists believe a virus that usually affects rodents is the cause of a mysterious snake disease. Inclusion Body Disease makes pythons and boa constrictors tie themselves up in knots, roll on their backs and "stargaze". [5] The virus, which was previously thought to not infect snakes at all, appears to cause the "inclusion body disease," which causes snakes like boa constrictors and pythons to first regurgitate food and then display neurological problems like "stargazing," when a snake stares aimlessly upwards for long periods of time. Pythons (like the green tree python pictured here) and boa constrictors infected by the highly contagious "mad snake disease" tie act in bizarre "drunken" ways and tie themselves into tangles they cannot get out of. [6] DeRisi learned that something called inclusion body disease had been killing boa constrictors in captivity for decades. He says the disease eventually attacks the snake's brain and nervous system. DERISI: Some of these snakes tie themselves into knots. They roll on their back, which snakes never roll on their back, and they exhibit behaviors like stargazing, where they wave their heads in the sky sort of uncontrollably. HAMILTON: DeRisi thought he might be able to find the cause of inclusion body disease if he could look at genetic material from snakes that died of it. He asked around. He learned that an outbreak had just been discovered at an aquarium a few minutes from his lab. DERISI: And when that happens, they take no chances. They euthanize all the snakes. Because it's infectious, they know it can be transmitted, and they know if they don't do something about it, they're going to lose them all. [7] Hook's letter wasn't just about Larry, but about lots of sick boa constrictors, DeRisi says. It described how inclusion body disease, which Hook suspected Larry might have, had become a major problem in aquariums and zoos, and for people who keep snakes as pets. The first symptoms of the disease are often that a snake stops eating or begins regurgitating its meals. [7] The story began with a snake named Larry, and his owner, Taryn Hook of San Jose, California. Before Larry, Hook had lost two snakes to inclusion body disease, and, in early 2009, she became convinced Larry had it as well. Knowing there was no treatment or cure, she was desperate to find anyone who might save her snake. Sanders had just attended a conference at which he had heard DeRisi talking about his Virochip DNA microarray technology and its ability to identify viruses, fungi and other pathogens -- including at least one exotic pet disease, a mysterious parrot virus -- when no other gene probing technology could. [1] For years, many experts have hypothesized that a virus or some other infectious pathogen might cause inclusion body disease because of evidence that it spreads easily from snake to snake. Taryn Hook poses with her pet snake, Larry, whose condition spurred Hook to ask Joe DeRisi, PhD, a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator and vice chair of the UCSF Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, to investigate the cause of inclusion body disease. [1]
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(much) more: http://newsfeedresearcher.com/data/articles_m33_2/snake-parrots-disease.html
http://www.ucsf.edu/news/2012/08/12545/mysterious-snake-disease-decoded
full article (open access): http://mbio.asm.org/content/3/4/e00180-12.full?sid=ab207cee-beae-4042-8858-c34c496bccc1
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