 |  | ||||||||||||||
Psittacine Beak & Feather Disease (PBFD)- This dreadful disease is caused by a circovirus. It has a wide species range although it appears to be a natural virus infection of cockatoos in Australasia where it occurs in wild flocks. It has been known in wild cockatoos in Australia for many years and recently Ducorps cockatoos from the Solomon Islands have been round to be infected. Old world parrots show the infection most commonly. In the US eclectus and cockatoos led African greys. New World parrots such as Amazons and macaws showed less of the disease. Smaller species such as lovebirds, cockatiels and parakeets also showed the infection very commonly.- African greys as an unnatural host seem particularly acutely affected, young birds may simply die or develop feather loss first, others may develop red feathering (seen in wild birds also unrelated to PBFD). Feather colour changes are also reported in Vasa parrots. It causes typical French Moult signs in budgies, and similar signs in lovebirds and ringnecks. A few species have been reported to eliminate infection and recover, this seems commoner in lovebirds than any other species.- Variable levels of feather loss are seen, in some birds it may develop slowly with only a few abnormal feathers each moult. Rapidly growing feathers are affected first, eg. powder downs in african greys and cockatoos, losing their natural dust they often develop an untidy greasy plumage and shiny beaks. It may be seen at the first formation of feathers to replace down. Sudden loss or deformities of feathers, often blood in the sheath. It may also develop in adult birds at subsequent moults. Perhaps a few affected feathers each time.- The virus is found in feather dust, faeces and in crop fluids. It is believed to spread through the egg. It has been reported that birds may simply die of either disease without showing signs. Liver or kidney swabs clipped off and dropped into carrier medium may be sent from probing if these diseases are suspected. PBFD tests PCR testing is very sensitive. Contamination by virus from other positive birds, whether dead or alive will make a sample positive. The test finds virus if it is there - from any source. In just the same way that your sample may be contaminated from via environment (from an unsuspected carrier) it is not uncommon for chicks to show severe problems yet parents are negative. These chicks are often being infected from a contaminated environment. We cannot control potential contamination at the time of collection so ensuring the sample is not contaminated is your responsibility. To avoid contamination of the sample with PBFD virus from the environment (originating from other birds) it is essential to thoroughly clean the birds nail area. We recommend Ark-Klens (from VETARK) for this. RELYING ON DISINFECTION IS NOT SUFFICIENT. CLEANSING IS VITAL. Dead virus will give as strong a positive reaction as live virus. Alternatively have your veterinary surgeon collect the sample direct from a vein by venipuncture. Birds become immuno-suppressed and may die from other diseases. You can now use the standard DNA collection kits to take blood from parrots for PBFD testing. Alternatively a veterinary surgeon will collect the sample directly from a vein using a syringe and needle (venipuncture). Feather pulp from abnormal feathers is also a potential source of virus. This is squeezed straight into our collection tubes. Because birds with a serious degree of feather lesions may be immunosuppressed, and because this can hide the virus we recommend that such birds be sampled by collecting blood and feather pulp samples in the same tube. Do not simply send us dried feathers - they are a poor sample for reliable testing - so as a policy we don't test them. Please use or at the very least liaise with your avian vet. Interpreting what the test means to you and your birds and what if any action is required in your situation needs veterinary input. We can assist your vet but we cannot get involved with cases directly. What does a positive test result mean ? A positive PBFD test result means that the the PCR test detected PBFD DNA in the sample. A positive result from a bird with feather abnormalities suggests strongly that the bird has an active infection. A positive result from a bird with no feather problems may mean either that the bird is a carrier or that it has been recently exposed to the virus. In these cases we recommend re-testing in 90 days. We also recommend that the second sample is collected by venipuncture to ensure that contamination does not occur. The majority of birds which are merely exposed will mount an immune response and eliminate the infection. Those still positive at the 90 day test should be considered carriers. One day they are likely to show the disease, and be potentially infectious. Various uses of the disease tests
| |||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |