Neoplastic disease is common in pet birds, particularly in psittacines, and treatment should be primarily aimed at tumor eradication. Nineteen cases of pet birds submitted to diagnostic and/or therapeutic surgical procedures due to neoplastic disease characterized by the presence of visible masses were retrospectively analyzed; affected species, types of neoplasms and respective locations, and ...

The present study is a report on the presence of Mycobacterium avium in four birds of the psittaciform order kept as pets. Anatomopathological diagnosis showed lesions suggestive of the agent and presence of alcohol-acid resistant bacilli (AARB) shown by the Ziehl-Neelsen staining. The identification of Mycobacterium avium was performed by means of PRA (PCR Restriction Analysis). DNA was direct...

Risk factors Suggested risk factors for atherosclerosis in birds include age, gender, species, increased plasma concentrations of lipids and lipoproteins, high energy diets, physical inactivity, genetics, and coinfection with Chlamydia psittaci. Age Increased age has been shown to be a significant risk factor for the development of atherosclerosis in parrots in retrospective studies. Gender Fem...

Pet birds are a not-so-well known veterinarian's clientship fraction. Bought individually or in couples, as families often do (which is a lucrative business for pet shops or local breeders) or traded (sometimes illegally) for their very high genetic or exotic value, these birds, commonly canaries, parakeets or parrots, are regularly sold at high prices. These animals, however, are potential car...

References 5. Higuchi R: 1989, Rapid, efficient DNA extraction for PCR from cells or blood. Amplifications 2:1-3. 6. Kibenge FSB, Jackwood DJ, Mercado CC: 1990, Nucleotide sequence analysis of genome segment A of infectious bursal disease virus. J Gen Virol 71:569-577. 7. Kusukawa N, Uemori T, Asada K, Kato I: 1990, Rapid and reliable protocol for direct sequencing of material amplified by the ...

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 expanded considerably during 2005 and early 2006 in both avian host species and geographic distribution. Domestic waterfowl and migratory birds are reservoirs, but lethality of this subtype appeared to initially limit migrant effectiveness as introductory hosts. This situation may have changed, as HPAI H5N1 has recently expanded across Eurasia and i...

The risk of zoonoses spreading from birds to humans is lower, quantitatively speaking, than the risk of transmission between other host groups, because the two taxonomic groups share fewer pathogens. Nevertheless, birds have a number of epidemiological characteristics that make them extremely important hosts in the transmission and maintenance of zoonoses, including their susceptibility to path...