Ophidiomycosis surveillance and detection in snake populations in Puerto Rico

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Majid Bazzi-Casado, Keishary Alvarez, Eneilis Mulero-Oliveras and Yogani Govender, Biology, Interamerican University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR

Background/Question/Methods
Emerging fungal diseases in wildlife represent a threat to global biodiversity, especially when introduced to novel populations. A fungal pathogen considered an emerging disease is Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola and it is the causative agent of ophidiomycosis in captive and wild snake populations. The disease has been reported in wild snake populations in Europe, Canada, and the United States. In 2018, a Department of Defense survey study detected ophidiomycosis in the Puerto Rican boa (C. inornatus), an endangered snake species inside a military installation, consequently, being the first report of the pathogen in a Caribbean Island. This study’s objective is to survey wild populations of snake species to detect the presence of the pathogen throughout Puerto Rico and provide outreach concerning the disease. Workshops were provided to undergraduates at two universities to enable them to survey, capture/handle snakes, sample for O. ophiodiicola and recognize different snake species. All snakes were captured during field surveys and opportunistically by citizen and/or collaborator sighting reports. Samples for O. ophiodiicola were obtained by swabbing the skin and examining the snake for clinical symptoms. Samples were analyzed using quantitative PCR (qPCR) analysis. Snakes were subcutaneously injected with PIT tags to allow individual identification. Demographic characteristics were recorded.
Results/Conclusions
Sixty-five snakes representing 5 species were sampled for Ophidiomyces throughout 13 municipalities in Puerto Rico in various habitat types. Results are available for 31 snakes of which 16 (52%) from at least 4 municipalities resulted qPCR positive for the pathogen and 8 snakes had clinical symptoms of the disease. Species include the Puerto Rican boa (C. inornatus, endangered), the Puerto Rican Racer (B. portoricensis, native) and the Red-tailed boa (B. constrictor, invasive). Of the samples analyzed, 39% were C. inornatus from cave habitats; of these, all resulted in qPCR positive. Results indicate this pathogen is present and widespread in wild populations outside of those detected in 2018 and in several snake species, both native and invasive. Cave habitat samples had higher incidence of both qPCR confirmed O. ophiodiicola infection and clinical symptoms. This warrants further research, especially because caves harbor high densities of boa populations and are considered an important resource for cave-associated boas.