A disease resembling inclusion body disease of boid snakes in captive palm vipers (Bothriechis marchi)

Northwest Zoopath, Snohomish, WA 98296, USA.

Between April 1998 and June 1999, 8 palm vipers (Bothriechis marchi) were diagnosed with a disease similar to inclusion body disease (IBD) of boids. Six palm vipers were captive bred, and 2 were wild caught. All of the vipers were adults at the time of death. Three palm vipers were found dead with no premonitory clinical signs, and 5 had anorexia plus possibly 1 of the following clinical signs: regurgitation, paresis, and dehydration. Histologically, all snakes had intracytoplasmic, round to oval, single to multiple eosinophilic inclusion bodies in hepatocytes and renal tubular epithelial cells. Inclusion bodies were distributed among other organs with varying frequency. Common concurrent histologic lesions were urate nephrosis, septic thrombi, and hepatocellular degeneration. Ultrastructurally, inclusions had features similar to inclusions in boid snakes with IBD.