A preliminary microscopic and molecular epidemiological survey of endoparasites within wild-caught and UK captive-bred reptiles: Assessing a potential parasitic disease public health risk?

In the UK, exotic reptiles are increasingly popular as pets, and housed in zoological collections, whilst venomous snakes of medical importance have long been the focus of herpetological studies. As all reptiles can harbour protist and helminth parasites, some of these may carry tangible zoonotic risk. This study utilised traditional and molecular diagnostic techniques, including sedimentation-flotation, real-time polymerase chain reaction (rtPCR), and necropsy, to investigate endoparasite infections in captive-bred (CB) and wild-caught (WC) reptiles.