A 15ft (4.5-metre) reticulated python at Chester Zoo, named Jodie Foster, has reportedly received a pioneering cancer treatment typically used on humans. The 23-year-old snake is believed to be the first of her species globally to undergo electrochemotherapy for a malignant tumour.
Keepers at the zoo became concerned when Jodie Foster, who weighs 50kg, began eating less and became inactive. She was diagnosed with a fibrosarcoma in her jaw, which was initially removed surgically but later returned and started to affect her jawbone.
Facing a life-threatening situation, Jodie Foster underwent electrochemotherapy. This procedure combines the cancer drug bleomycin with electrical pulses to target remaining cancerous cells after the tumour and part of the diseased jawbone were removed. Months after the 90-minute procedure, she is said to be eating normally and is "back to her usual bright and feisty self." A recent check confirmed no signs of the cancer returning.
Ian Ashpole, a veterinary officer at Chester Zoo, stated that more surgery alone was unlikely to be sufficient when the tumour returned. Jose Alvarez Picornell from the University of Liverpool's department of small animal clinical science noted that this was the first time electrochemotherapy had been used in a snake and that details of the procedure will be formally published for the wider veterinary community.