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.

(iii) Collection 4. A full necropsy and pathological evaluation were performed on a 1-year-old female ball python (BP8) from a private col-lection in Texas that died after a history of respiratory disease for 1 week and respiratory distress for 2 days. The snake was from a group of four snakes. There was a history of respiratory disease in the group, and previously one other snake had died. The snake exhibited marked dyspnea with crackles and wheezes audible without a stethoscope. Other clinical findings included hypersalivation and a swollen, erythematous glottis. Culture of a tracheal swab isolated Shewanella putrefaciens. No response to treatment with the antimicrobial enrofloxacin was noted. The following tissues were analyzed: lungs, kidney, liver, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, heart, brain, oral cavity, pharynx, nasal cavity, trachea, eye, spleen, and ovary with oviduct were placed in NBF and processed routinely for light microscopy. Six-micrometer sections of paraffin-embedded tissues were stained with hematoxylin and eosin.