Presented by Dr. Jeffrey M. Lorch, Research Associate, Department of Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison. February 12, 2014. Snake Fungal Disease (SFD) is an emerging disease in certain populations of wild snakes in the eastern United States. While fungal skin infections were occasionally reported in wild snakes prior to 2006, the number of free-ranging snakes with fungal dermatitis submitted to the USGS National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC) and other diagnostic laboratories has been increasing. Laboratory analyses have demonstrated that the fungus Ophidiomyces (formerly Chrysosporium) ophiodiicola is consistently associated with SFD, but definitive evidence that O. ophiodiicola causes SFD is lacking. While mortality has been associated with some cases of SFD, population-level impacts of the disease are not yet widely known and are difficult to assess due to the cryptic and solitary nature of
