burmese python disease?

[dave68]

Been hearing a lot about this lately. Does anyone know if there is such a thing and if so what are the symptoms etc...

Dave

[Mike177]

There is a disease in burmese pythons known as "bd" or burm disease. these are very prevelent in snakes such as albino greens. there is no cure for it and it will kill the snake. also it is very contagus so if you think your snake has it get it away from all other snakes. i dont know too much about it but remember reading an article about it a wile ago, im sure someone will have a link.

[dave68]

Thanks Mike, no I don't think my guy has it, I was just curious what it was.

[Dr. Antfarm]

BD is a term used for chronic respiratory tract infections. It is a real pain in the a$$ once it sets in, and not always curable. It can be managed or controled with antibotics, if not cured. I don't really believe that one colour morph is more prone to it than any other. I think it is more correct to say that all Burmese Pythons are very suceptable to upper respiratory infections.

No one is really sure on why it occurs so frequently in Burmese Pythons, but I highly doubt that it's from inbreeding. This condition is seen equally in cb lines, as well as wc specimens and new genetic lines. There is absolutly no proof that "BD" is a genetic disease.

[M_surinamensis]

There's no proof that it exists at all, no single source has actually compiled enough hard evidence to show ANYTHING worthwhile so everything anyone says about the subject is going to be conjecture based on antecdotal evidence.

To the poster Mike177, highly contagious? How do you figure? If it were so contagious, why would it be restricted to, in your mind, a certain color morph of animal? Or more likely to occur in a given strain than another? That's not just conjecture, but it's poor conjecture based on avaliable evidence.

Dr. Antfarm, my thoughts are closer to yours. The antecdotal evidence I have heard leads me to believe that burms as a species are simply more prone to respiratory tract infections and that whatever blind spot their immune system may have tends to leave animals who get sick once to be more likely to do so again in the future. If it's a genetic trait related to the immune system, the constant reinforcement of genes involved with line breeding for a color morph *might* leave certain types more likely of exhibiting the condition but I haven't seen any proof that this is the case and if it's exhibited specieswide than the reinforcement of genes happens with every breeding regardless of color related genotypes.

I think if more owners stopped for a few minutes and considered the climate burms encounter in the wild and stopped keeping them on aspen shavings with a 20% relative humidity in the enclosure it might amazingly clear up the problem (which, as I said, may or may not exist anyway and until someone wants to keep four or five thousand animals to gather information prior to setting up controls with an even larger group, no "I had two burms and they both got sick" stories are going to convince me otherwise).