Ball python nidovirus: a candidate etiologic agent for severe respiratory disease in Python regius.

ABSTRACT:

Unlabelled

A severe, sometimes fatal respiratory disease has been observed in captive ball pythons (Python regius) since the late 1990s. In order to better understand this disease and its etiology, we collected case and control samples and performed pathological and diagnostic analyses. Electron micrographs revealed filamentous virus-like particles in lung epithelial cells of sick animals. Diagnostic testing for known pathogens did not identify an etiologic agent, so unbiased metagenomic sequencing was performed. Abundant nidovirus-like sequences were identified in cases and were used to assemble the genome of a previously unknown virus in the order Nidovirales. The nidoviruses, which were not previously known to infect nonavian reptiles, are a diverse order that includes important

SUBMITTER: Stenglein MD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4173777 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature