Special Letter from our Vet on the Research Team
Dear Reptile Enthusiasts,
My name is Dr. Michael Wenninger and I am a veterinarian for exotics and small animals. I am also a reptile keeper and breeder. I share the same passion with regard to reptiles as you do and am therefore excited to be involved in this project.
As many of you know, cryptosporidiosis is a major problem in captive reptiles. There are different strains affecting nearly all reptilian species. What makes it worse is that there is no known cure for cryptosporidiosis and testing for the disease is somewhat difficult. Most cases are diagnosed via post-mortem histological evaluation. The symptoms commonly associated with cryptosporidiosis are vague and can include failure to thrive, weight loss, anorexia, regurgitation, diarrhea, ocular lesions, liver disease, reproductive lesions, or unexpected death. Transmission is thought to be fecal-oral but some people speculate that vertical transmission can occur. There is also speculation that animals can harbor the organism for extended periods without showing clinical signs. These animals would be particularly problematic because collections would be exposed to cryptosporidiosis before the animals were showing signs of the disease. Many wild-caught reptiles are thought to have low burdens of cryptosporidium but when they are stressed by capture, transport, and trying to adapt to life in captivity, their immune systems are suppressed and clinical cryptosporidiosis can occur. We suspect that cryptosporidiosis is even more common than previously thought in captive reptile populations.
The Kill-crypto project is in its infancy but we have had generous support and are beginning the testing phases of the project. We have learned some important lessons thus far. Namely, we have found that testing for cryptosporidiosis in a fecal sample via acid-fast staining is not a very sensitive test. This means that whether an animal is infected or not, crytposporidia may not be found on every sample. We suspect this is due to intermittent shedding of the parasite or low parasite burden. We plan to test subsequent fecal samples (at least 5) per animal to check for infection. We hope that this makes the testing more sensitive and therefore the results more meaningful. Once we have a group of animals that are confirmed as infected, drug trials will begin. As of now, no drug is effective at eliminating cryptosporidia. Many different drug therapies have been used including trimethoprim-sulfamethoxole, paramomycin, azithromycin, metronidazole, and various other treatments such as hyper-immune bovine serum. Some of these treatments seem to help but none have reliably cleared the infection.
The main goal of this project is to determine whether a drug is effective in controlling/eliminating cryptosporidiosis. We also hope to determine what the prevalence of the disease is in captive leopard geckos and whether transmission can occur vertically or only via fecal-oral route. This project is continually evolving and we will give further updates as they are available.
Thank you for your support,
Michael Wenninger DVM