Quote:
Originally Posted by reticguy76
just about everything (if not everything) about ibd is theory and research in progress. it is theory that it comes from snake mites (which is a particular species of mites, there are many species of mites), it is theory that it is contagious (evidence points to it, but still theory), it is theory that pythons die quicker once "infected". all these and so much more on ibd is theory. every legitimate laboratory results ive seen (and ive been in veteriary medicine for goin on 14 years now), that has had ibd testing performed, come back as probable suspect of inclusion body disease. because inclusion body cells are cells that are different from natural occuring cells in the body (organs, blood, skin, etc) i have never seen one legitimate lab results paper say, this animal is 100% ibd positive. not enough is known on it to definitively diagnose that yet
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Sorry I read that and at first it seemed like you were questioning IBD as a disease, but I believe what you were trying to say is "there are a lot of unknowns"..Unless I am misreading?
IBD IS a proven disease, a worldwide one, at that.
It IS contagious, certainly by direct contact, also passing from mother to baby has shown to pass the disease.
Mites are a common denominator, and it makes sense that a parasite that feeds on blood could transmit the disease.
Airborne has been mentioned as a substantiated theory in the case of BW Smith
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...ad.php?t=72726 who practices STRINGENT quarantine.
In any case, all medical diagnoses and science starts with a theory.
It's through testing, and monitoring that hard proof is established.
There actually IS a positive diagnosis for IBD, based on microscopic exams of the inclusions searching for a UNIQUE protein that has been associated with the disease. Basically, if the inclusion bodies and the protein are found, the snake HAS IBD.
There'd be a lot more medical documentation and known factors to this disease of more people would bother to have their dead animals examined & tested.
Because of the presence of the inclusion bodies and the unique protein present, an IBD POSITIVE TEST DOES INDICATE IBD presence, the doubt is eliminated at that point.
The only time doubt is left in question, is if the tests come back negative,
and:
A)previously has been IBD in the collection
B)lax quarantine was present
C)other snakes have died or been ill in the collection
D)the snake is new and/or came from questionable background
E) all of the above and any other weird things I missed (sorry NyQuill kicked in... :scatter: )
I hope that cleared that up some..Clear as mud?? Good, now we're all on the same page.