{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,25]],"date-time":"2026-05-25T05:04:02Z","timestamp":1779685442513,"version":"3.53.1"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,25]],"date-time":"2026-05-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1779667200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Vet. Sci."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Fatal diarrhea has recently emerged as a significant health problem in captive-bred corn snakes (\n                      <jats:italic>Pantherophis guttatus<\/jats:italic>\n                      ), particularly among juveniles under 6 months of age. Affected snakes typically present with watery diarrhea, anorexia, dehydration, and high mortality.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>To clarify the etiological basis of this syndrome, we investigated bacterial pathogens associated with fatal diarrhea and characterized virulence gene profiles of predominant isolates. Rectal swabs were collected from healthy and diarrheic snakes, and pathogen detection and bacterial loads were quantified.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      <jats:italic>Clostridium perfringens<\/jats:italic>\n                      demonstrated a significantly higher detection rate and rectal bacterial load in diarrheic snakes compared with healthy individuals (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      = 0.0007;\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      &amp;lt; 0.0001), whereas\n                      <jats:italic>Salmonella<\/jats:italic>\n                      spp. and\n                      <jats:italic>Escherichia coli<\/jats:italic>\n                      were not associated with disease status. Toxinotyping of 24\n                      <jats:italic>C. perfringens<\/jats:italic>\n                      isolates identified toxinotypes A, B, D, and G without a disease-specific distribution, suggesting that toxinotype alone is insufficient to explain outbreak occurrence. Quantitative analysis of five virulence-associated genes, including cell-wall-anchored extracellular nuclease (\n                      <jats:italic>cadA<\/jats:italic>\n                      ), collagen adhesion protein (\n                      <jats:italic>cna<\/jats:italic>\n                      ), sialidase (\n                      <jats:italic>nanI<\/jats:italic>\n                      ), necrotic enteritis B-like toxin (\n                      <jats:italic>netB<\/jats:italic>\n                      ), and toxin\n                      <jats:italic>C. perfringens<\/jats:italic>\n                      large cytotoxin (\n                      <jats:italic>tpeL<\/jats:italic>\n                      ) genes, revealed a significantly lower\n                      <jats:italic>cadA<\/jats:italic>\n                      gene copy number in isolates from diarrheic snakes (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      = 0.0343), while no significant differences were observed for the other genes.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Fatal diarrhea in captive corn snakes is associated with increased intestinal colonization by\n                      <jats:italic>C. perfringens<\/jats:italic>\n                      , rather than with toxinotype variation. The reduced\n                      <jats:italic>cadA<\/jats:italic>\n                      gene copy number observed in isolates from diarrheic snakes suggests a potential role for biofilm-related mechanisms in disease expression, although functional studies are required for confirmation. These findings provide field-based evidence supporting the involvement of\n                      <jats:italic>C. perfringens<\/jats:italic>\n                      overgrowth in reptile enteric disease and may inform future disease monitoring and management strategies in intensive breeding systems.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fvets.2026.1812888","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,25]],"date-time":"2026-05-25T04:45:49Z","timestamp":1779684349000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Intestinal overgrowth of Clostridium perfringens and reduced cadA gene copy number characterize fatal diarrhea in captive corn snakes (Pantherophis guttatus)"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"You-Chen","family":"Hung","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Medicine, School of Veterinary Medicine, National Taiwan University","place":["Taipei, Taiwan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wen-Yuan","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Medicine, School of Veterinary Medicine, National Taiwan University","place":["Taipei, Taiwan"]},{"name":"Zoonoses Research Center and School of Veterinary Medicine, National Taiwan University","place":["Taipei, Taiwan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"676","DOI":"10.3390\/ani11030676","article-title":"Using google trends to determine current, past, and future trends in the reptile pet trade","volume":"11","author":"Valdez","year":"2021","journal-title":"Animals."},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"9530732","DOI":"10.1155\/2019\/9530732","article-title":"et al. 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