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Avian Diseases Seen in General Practice & Therapeutic Methods…

- - - - Circovirus spread by dust from faeces, feathers and from parenteral feeding of young.
      - Generally young birds affected.
      - Feather changes, lesions of the beak/nails (usually symmetrical).
      - Peracute disease (neonates) caused by septicaemia, pneumonia, enteritis, rapid weight loss and death.
      - Acute disease (reported at first feather formation) results in depression, +/- feather malformation/loss, +/- crop stasis/diarrhoea/death.
      - Chronic disease causes feather malformation, retention of feather sheaths, changes of the beak (elongation, fractures, necrosis and ulceration).
      - Lab findings: haemagglutination (HA) or haemagglutination inhibition (HI) tests can be run to determine immunologic response to PBFD virus.
      - Prevention: isolate potentially infected birds, virus may be present in all body excretions and secretions as well as shed epithelial cells from GIT mucosa, skin and feathers.
    - - Same family as papillomaviruses. Transmitted through feather dust, excrement and parenteral feeding of young.
      - Most birds die rapidly (common cause of sudden death in budgie neonates), but carrier states are possible. Also CNS, GIT and respiratory signs.
      - Depression, anorexia, weight loss, delayed crop emptying, regurgitation, diarrhoea, dehydration, subcut haemorrhage, dyspnoea, polyuria, ataxia, tremors, paralysis.
      - Cloacal swab for PCR (detects viral DNA) required for diagnosis.
      - No treatment.
      - Prevention: environmentally resistant, isolate potentially infected birds, interrupt the breeding cycle with a rest of several months since the disease seems to seems to be self-limiting.
  - - - Bacterial enteritis (commonly caused by Gram -ve bacteria/coliforms).
      - Stress and poor hygiene (e.g. faeces in water).
      - Ruffled feathers, diarrhoea, listlessness, weakness, shivering, vent picking.
      - Severity of disease depends on age, bacterial virulence, stress and degree of contamination. Neonates often die (less developed immunity).
      - Salmonella droppings are coloured a sulphur yellowish-green which is very much a diagnostic sign for this microorganism.
      - Samples: faecal material & blood collected over several days are cultured.
      - Treatment: fluid therapy, broad-spec antibiotics (sulfa drugs PO + gentamicin/kanamycin by injection), stress free environment + temperature maintenance (e.g. heating using a heat pad).
    - - Gram -ve rod, usually invades secondarily and produces life threatening toxins. Typically outbreaks occur in aviaries when organic matter contaminates water.
      - Diarrhoea, dehydration, dyspnoea followed by death, skin lesions, localised URT infections (rhinitis, sinusitis, laryngitis).
      - Cloacal swab for culture required.
      - Treatment: piperacillin, ticarcillin, tobramycin may be used in absence of C+S.
      - Prevention: routine cleaning of food/water containers.
    - - Zoonotic (flu-like symptoms) & notifiable. Transmitted by ingestion (faecal material, feeding of young) or inhalation (respiratory secretions, feather/faecal dust).
      - Respiratory & GIT signs (oculonasal discharge, dyspnoea, weight loss, depression, lethargy, anorexia, bile-stained droppings and diarrhoea). Signs may be acute or chronic.
      - Birds may shed bacteria 10 days before clinical signs, and latency/asymptomatic carriers can occur.
      - Diagnosis: no test 100% effective. Conjunctival and choanal swabs for PCR is gold standard, usually combined with serology. False negatives occur (poor sensitivity) as C. psittaci is a an intracellular pathogen.
      - Treatment: tetracyclines (doxycycline preferred), some also use azithromycin or enrofloxacin. PO doxycyclin liquid given 35mg/kg SID for 21 days.
      - Prevention: daily cleaning & disinfection program (use benzalkonium chloride, hydrogen peroxide or 1% formalin). Use litter that won't produce dust (e.g. newspaper) and ensure adequate ventilation/light.
  - - - Young, old, unhealthy or those on antibiotics/corticosteroids generally affected (healthy birds resistant).
      - Typically air sacculitis +/- aflatoxicosis
      - Emaciation, respiratory distress (tail bobbing), NM disease, abnormal droppings, regurgitation, voice changes, poor appetite, nasal discharge, gout, conjunctivitis.
      - A. fumigatus, A. flavus, A. niger. Transmitted by spores in environment, often in poorly stored feed.
      - Diagnosis: tracheal wash for fungal culture, combined with presence of lesions.
      - Treatment: removal of stress factors, combinations of flucytosine, fluconazole and itraconazole.
      - Prevention: Reduce contact with nesting materials which may be contaminated with spores, proper feed storage.
    - - C. albicans, a yeast. May affect crop and oral mucosa, intestines, eyes and lungs.
      - General unthriftiness, vomiting/weight loss (esp in neonates), increased appetite. Rhinitis and beak necrosis may occur if the otopharynx is infected.
      - Lesions are raised white plaques that are easily removed with a cotton swab. Underlying mucosa is thickened and roughened. Crop and oesophagus contains lesions.
      - Diagnosis: ID of yeast cells on cytology, culture of plaques (abundant growth must be present to be diagnostically significant). Often occurs secondarily to prolonged antibiotics.
      - Treatment: nystatin most common (added to feed). Can also use ketoconazole, topical iodine or chlorhexidine.
      - Prevention: removal of all food residue from environment, provide adequate vitamin A, overall cleanliness.
    - - Yeast infection of the outflow of the proventriculus. Affects psittacines and non-psittacines.
      - Sick bird look, chronic wasting, neck stretching and vomiting (mucous covered seed), abnormal droppings (variable), polyphagia.
      - Acute form: die within a few days, chronic form: progressive emaciation and debilitation over weeks/months.
      - Crop flush for Gram stain & wet mount (Gram +ve rod-shaped filamentous organism).
      - Treatment: amphotericin B for 30 days 100mg/kg PO q12h
  - - - Common (esp in Australian parrots, poultry and wild birds)
      - Can cause intestinal blockage/rupture (budgies, Princess parrots). Large and easily located at PM.
      - Sick bird look, abnormal droppings (occasionally dark and tarry)
      - Faecal flotation
      - Treatment: fenbendazole (panacur)
    - - Parasite of the crop & oesophagus
      - Sick bird look, weight loss and diarrhoea
      - Bipolar eggs found on serial faecal floats (intermittent shedding)
    - - Uncommon and often not pathogenic.
    - - Scaley face/leg mite. Causes bird mange.
      - Mites burrow under epithelium causing raised white to yellow crusting and honeycomb-like encrustations on cere, eyelids, beak and legs. Occasionally cause encrustations at elboes, vent and skin (commonly apterylae of wings).
      - Crush preparation of encrustations in oil will reveal the mite
      - Treatment: moxidectin or ivermectin once weekly until controlled
    - - Sarcoptiform mites most common in canaries & finches
      - Respiratory signs only in severely affected birds. May be a respiratory "click" with careful auscultation or if you stand still in an aviary on a quiet evening.
      - Diagnosis: transilluminate trachea (spray overlying feathers with metho and then shine a light through the skin overlying the trachea). Should see tiny red dots moving within the trachea.
  - - - Flagellated protozoan that infects via parenteral feeding or contaminated feed/water.
      - Inflammation, whit plaques on GIT mucosa, necrosis & accumulation of cheesy material that may occlude the oesophagus/trachea.
      - Young birds: crop stasis (regurgitation), poor growth and high mortality.
      - Adult birds: emaciation, dyspnoea, vomiting.
      - Oesophageal swab or crop flush for wet mount exam.
      - Imidazole drugs (e.g. metronidazole). Advanced cases difficult to treat.
    - - Flagellated protozoan commonly found in faeces of asymptomatic birds.
      - Loose & malodorous stools, mucoid diarrhoea, debilitation, Gram -ve enteritis, anorexia, depression, recurrent yeast infections, eosinophilia & hypoproteinaemia, dry skin and feather picking, can cause poor growth and high mortality in neonates.
      - Trophozoites & cysts ID in faecal smears stained with Carbol fuchsin or by faecal flotation with ZnSO4.
      - Treatment: as for Trichomonas.
      - Prevention: cleanliness (keep aviary clean & dry).
    - - Enteric infection by Eimeria, Isospora & others. Birds may be asymptomatic carriers.
      - Diarrhoea +/- blood or mucous, weight loss, anaemia, dehydration, depression, ataxia, incoordination, sudden death, soiled vent and swollen abdomen. Faeces ranges from bloody greenish to watery and brown.
      - Diagnosis: faecal flotation reveals oocysts
- - - - Due to a reduced intake of Ca or Vit D3 deficiency
      - Many forms (rickets, osteoporosis, osteomalacia, nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism)
      - Young parrots usually have NSH (growing birds have a higher requirement for Ca - 1.5-2.5:1 Ca:P)
      - Bent long bones (esp humerus and tibiotarsus), failure to thrive
      - Diagnosed using radiography (widening/distortion of growth plates, poorly mineralised skeleton, pathological fractures)
      - Treatment/prevention: balanced diet, surgery not indicated until bird has strong bones (meanwhile apply splints or slings)
    - - Failure of the egg to pass through the oviduct at a normal rate
      - Due to functional or physical obstruction
      - Common problem in finches, canaries, lovebirds, cockatiels and budgies.
      - Sudden death, abdominal straining, often bird is on floor of cage, bilateral leg paralysis/paresis, penguin-like stance, swollen abdominal profile
      - Detect on PE, radiographs or U/S
      - Treatment: prophylactic ABs (enroflox, amoxycillin), lubricate cloaca with antibiotic eye ointment, calcium/glucose/electrolyte supplements, heat/humidity (e.g. humidicrib). Simple cases will respond to heat, humidity and calcium supplements within 1-2 hrs.
    - - Common. Overfeeding of high-fat diets (sunflower seeds).
      - Excessive weight and lipomas/collection of fat over body.
      - FNA + cytology of mass reveals fat globules and no sign of neoplasia.
      - Treatment: place on a diet (60-80% pellets, 20-40% vegetables & fruit, small amounts of treats). For birds that won't eat pellets provide a high quality budgie seed mix containing hulled oats and french white millet or Japanese millet. Max. 3-4 Sunflower seeds per day.
      - AVOID CABBAGE, CAULIFLOWER, BRUSSEL SPROUTS, RHUBARB LEAVES AND AVOCADO AS THEY ARE TOXIC.
  - - - Ingestion of excessive Zn or Pb - usually from galvanised wire or dishes.
      - Metals are ground and solubilised in the proventriculus and are absorbed across the intestinal wall. Pb competes for Ca at the NM junction and impairs haeme formation (anaemia). Zn has a range of effects, but it is directly irritant to the GIT and damages the kidneys, liver and pancreas.
      - CNS (seizures, drooped wings, lethargy, ataxia, stargazing, head-pressing, unable to fly, paralysis, blindness), GIT (biliverdinuria, diarrhoea, regurgitation, crop stasis) and urogenital (haemoglobinuria, haemorrhage) signs.
      - Diagnosis: collect heparinised blood to measure serum Pb/Zn concentrations & assess for non-regenerative anaemia + elevated LDH, AST, CK and uric acids. Radiography may reveal metallic opacities in the GIT.
      - Treatment: stabilise (heat, humidity, fluids), anticonvulsants PRN (diazepam), cathartics (peanut butter or Metamucil PO), chelation (CaEDTA 35 mg/kg IV/IM SID to BID, 5 days on then 5 days off then repeat). Dimercaprol (BAL) can also be used with CaEDTA (2.5mg/kg IM q4h x 2 days then BID for 10 days.
  - - - Aetiologies
        
        Allergies (oats, sunflower & canary seed, dust mites)
        
        Mites/lice (rarely a cause)
        
        Intestinal parasites (esp cockatiels & budgies)
        
        Low humidity (tobacco smoke and central heating dry out feathers)
        
        Skin infections (PBFD, infectious dermatitis)
        
        Chlamydiosis
        
        Malnutrition
        
        Neoplasia (birds pick at skin cancers or skin overlying tumours)
        
        Psychological (boredom, overcrowding, environmental changes, poor wing clipping, sexual frustration)
      - Clinical signs
        
        Feather loss in areas accessible by the beak (head feathers remain unaffected).
      - Treatment
        
        Dependant on the inciting cause.
  - - - History: chronic diarrhoea, cloacitis, enteritis, egg laying +/- dystocia, cloacal papilloma
      - Tenesmus, staining of vent feathers with faeces/blood, cloacal tissue protruding from vent (with or without an egg attached), do faecal exam (flotation + smear in warmed saline) and Gram stain to detect parasites and bacterial infections.
      - Differentiate cloacal prolapse from cloacal papilloma by using vinegar on cotton swab and applying to mucosa (papilloma will turn white, prolapse will be unchanged).
      - Supportive care (fluids), broad-spec ABs, corticosteroids, surgical replacement/resection of prolapsed tissue with purse sting suture placed in vent (don't suture too tight as to close off the cloaca).