Free-roaming wildlife are full of parasites, and snakes are no exception. Scientists found that rattlesnakes are at risk of fungal, parasitic and bacterial infections at higher rates than previously thought.
In a new study published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science, researchers in the U.S. Southeast surveyed seven pathogens among wild snakes. They sampled over 500 snakes across 29 species at two wildlife refuges in South Carolina and Florida. They found pathogens in more than 80% of the snakes surveyed in the study, with 44% of the snakes being infected with more than one pathogen.
The researchers found that the more diseases a snake had, the more likely they were to also be infected with snake fungal disease (Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola), a severe and often fatal illness. “When an animal has become sick from an infection, their immune system is compromised, which increases the risk of further disease,” said first author Corinna Mishin, a researcher at the University of Georgia.
The researchers also found the highest rate of snake fungal disease infection in pygmy rattlesnakes (Sistrurus miliarius). Rattlesnakes were also more likely to be infected with an invasive parasite known as snake lungworm. Researchers pointed to general population health, as well as diet, as potential factors to explain the bump in parasites.
“We hypothesize that certain species with poorer general population health, specifically rattlesnakes with historic and current increased risks of human persecution, are likely more susceptible to infection with subsequent disease,” Mishin said.
