Inclusion Body Disease, a retroviral disease?

Boid inclusion body disease (IBD) is a worldwide disease that has been associated with a retroviral agent for decades, although no causative agent has been found. In this research we looked for a relation between exogenous retroviruses and IBD using PCR technique with primers based on the conserved pol and pro region of retroviruses in 18 snakes. Of these snakes 3 were diagnosed with IBD, 8 snakes were suspected of viral disease and 7 control snakes. Endogenous retrovirus can be demonstrated in both healthy and sick animals, no exogenous retrovirus was demonstrated. Therefore it is unlikely that the causative agent for boid inclusion body disease is a retrovirus. Recent research is directed towards divergent arenaviruses as the etiological agent of IBD