Include

[adbacus]

Originally Posted by cris

It would be very easy to do a study to find out how its transmitted all thats needed is money, or is their already a study being conducted?

It isn't as easy as you think. Until the actual pathogen (bug) is isolated and defined with the specific gene markers, the study would be flawed. As stated before, the bug, needs to be specifically isolated before management and cure can be defined.

Who knows, it may not be a bug at all but an auto immune disease caused by continuous breeding of a limited gene pool, or a prionic pathogen caused by using rodents as a food source (i.e. Jakob Kreutzfeldt's /Mad Cow disease) - I certainly do not know.

As stated by others, there is a theory that some snakes have some form of immunity or partial immunity or are carriers. The carriers you wouldn't unless a definitive test is found.

There are plenty of other diseases out there and OPMV is greatly banded out. IBD and other reoviruses also cause very similar signs and symptoms as well as very similar post mortem tissue histology. I believe that if ppl do not know they just point to OPMV and cause panic.

My advise is to learn and utilise universal precautions for all your herps. Use quarrantine processes on new snakes. Listen to the more experienced herpers here who give advice. Learn from those who have dealt with a confirmed outbreak of the disease in their collections and be aware of your snakes health.