Ball Python Nidovirus: a Candidate Etiologic Agent for Severe Respiratory Disease in Python regius

Stenglein, Mark D.; Jacobson, Elliott R.; Wozniak, Edward J.; Wellehan, James F. X.; Kincaid, Anne; Gordon, Marcus; Porter, Brian F.; Baumgartner, Wes; Stahl, Scott; Kelley, Karen; Towner, Jonathan S.; DeRisi, Joseph L.

(v) Collection 7. Ball python 11 was a 6-year-old adult from a private collection in Pennsylvania. The owner had about 74 snakes in total, all of which were ball pythons. Seven snakes in close proximity to one another from his collection became sequentially ill with clinical signs of respiratory disease, including dyspnea and open-mouth breathing, All ill snakes were immediately quarantined in a separate room from the general population. Of the 7 snakes that became ill, 6 died within a few days of first manifesting signs of respiratory disease. One of the dead snakes was submitted to a private practitioner for necropsy. Portions of trachea, lung, kidney, liver, integument, and small intestine were fixed in NBF and submitted to a pathology service processed for light microscopy. Paraffin-embedded tissues were sectioned at 6 m and were stained with hematoxylin and eosin, alcian blue, and PAS. Portions of lung, liver, and kidney were collected, frozen at Ϫ80°C, and subsequently submitted for molecular diagnostics.