Infectious diseases of the lower digestive tract in snakes

Abstract

Reptile medicine is a relatively new and still developing part of veterinary science. This thesis study tries to summarize the causes of gastrointestinal diseases in snakes. The necropsy results used in this study were provided by Szent Istvan University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (now being an independent University of Veterinary Medicine, Budapest), Department of Pathology and Forensic Medicine, during the years 1995, 1999, 2000 and 2001. We attempted to summarize and present the causative agents of infectious gastrointestinal tract diseases of snakes under the chapter “Literature review”. This was done according to aetiology and they were divided into viral, bacteria, parasitic and fungal diseases. Our study included 41 snakes belonging to 23 different species. Necropsy findings are organized according to species.