Hmmm... I've read Sdaji's post and considered the points he's made, some of which I fully agree with, others with which I disagree relate mainly to the irritable nature of his response.
Firstly, I fully agree with him that these "mysterious" viruses are clearly not bringing about the end of the reptile keeping world as we know it... sure there have been some collection disasters in various parts of the world from time to time, but for the most part, for most of us (including me, touch wood!) life goes on pretty much as usual. He's right in saying that most people simply cannot quarantine effectively for these things, probably because they largely don't understand how to do it effectively, and to be effective, even one breach of the protocol lands you back to square one, and you have to start all over again. (That's not forgetting the old "it won't happen to me" syndrome, which, I have to say, I've been guilty of occasionally...).
And yes, there are vets out there who demonstrate fundamental ignorance and thus offer bad advice - the Salmonella thing is classic - when I was 16 (1964!) I offered my reptiles to a researcher from Royal Perth Hospital, for cloacal and buccal swabbing. Every one of the cloacal swabs returneda positive result for various Salmonella species, and the range of herps included lizards, snakes and a few Freshwater Crocs. So the existence of Salmonella in reptile gut flora has been known for decades. Similarly, on APS recently, a vet was quoted as suggesting olive oil as a means of assisting a bad shed - even basic logic tells you that the snake probably had a bad shed because of a lack of water somehwere in the physiology chain. Why would you add a water repelent layer to the skin of an already dehydrated snake???
Sdaji's irritable dismissal of the work done by Tim Hyndman is short sighted. Tim is a vet, now dedicated to research, but he's also a reptile enthusiast, and a keeper himself (I had the pleasure of dealing with him when I was a dealer in Perth). Tim has devoted the past few years to trying crack the complexities of the causative agents of these periodic wipeouts that occur from time to time in this country and others. What he has uncovered so far is potentially the beginning of a complete change in our understanding of what's going on in this country.
We in Australia have been basically hanging on the coat-tails of overseas researchers for the past couple of decades, scratching our heads when there's a problem, and saying it's all too hard when the pathology just adds even more mystery to the mix. But here in Oz, and in herpetology-backward Perth for goodness sake (I'm from Perth lol!), we have a young man who is on the way to unravelling some of the tangles we have in our own back yard. From his last communication with me, Tim indicated that there is the likelihood that our snakes may be testable for this disease in the very near future. Regardless of mighty Sdaji's dismissive tone, this HAS to be a good thing, and a major step towards a less fearful future for herpers, regardless of whether you think adding to the body of knowledge serves a purpose or not. There are still mysteries to solve, but the work is ongoing, and the future has more light shone on it now than it has ever had.
There is one thing we should all be grateful for as well - Tim Hyndman is a scientist who supports reptile keepers, and is putting his time & money where his mouth is... there are precious few in science who give a damn about hobby keepers - we need to encourage every one we've got.
Jamie
