Adder death post mortem

Initial findings back from the Wildlife Veterinarian at the Institute of Zoology on the the dead male adder found coiled up deep in the vegetation at a basking site last Saturday.
Picture below shows it after uncoiling to measure its length (approx 21 inches).

They stated:

This adult male adder was in good body condition at the time of death. It had not been eating recently as there was no substantive ingesta in the stomach. There was no evidence of parasitism internally or externally. There were two regions of generalised scale abnormalities which are often seen in wild adders and do not necessarily indicate disease. There was a lesion on the right side of the face and blood present in the mouth, oesophagus and lung. The lung was very haemorrhagic and appeared to be totally affected, as if the lung was the source of the blood and not, that the blood had been inhaled.

While trauma in this case seems likely, we cannot rule out a primary disease of the lung. We will be submitting tissue samples to be analysed to investigate the lung in greater detail and will be sure to keep you posted.

We will also be sending virology samples overseas as part of a wider adder disease surveillance project.

Will update if they send any further findings.

Does 'lesion' here mean a recently inflicted wound that caused the bleeding in the lung?

Thanks for the link Chris. I'm glad to hear there is a move towards studying reptile disease in the UK.