Abstract
If you have endured the helplessness of having a bird diagnosed with Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease (PBFD), we are sure you will understand the degree of pain and suffering represented by the photographs you see in this article. If you maintain susceptible species of psittacine birds and have not yet been plagued by this disease, be patient! Sooner or later you may experience an outbreak. You may be lucky, and the PBFD virus will only destroy one of your cherished pets. You may, on the other hand, be unlucky and the virus may infect an entire nursery of young psittacine birds. Some choice! We must reach a point where we can control this disease in the same manner in which we prevent distemper, parvovirus and rabies in our dogs and cats. Aviculture needs an effective vaccine for the PBFD virus.
It was in the mid-1970s that a slowly debilitating disease was first described in Old World and South Pacific psittacine birds. The syndrome was identified by varying degrees of symmetric feather malformation and loss, development of beak deformities and, usually, death.!-' Through the last decade, this disease has been given many names, including cockatoo beak and feather disease, beak rot, fungal dermatitis, cockatoo feather picking syndrome, molt disease, feather maturatino syndrome, adrenal insufficiency, thyroid insufficiency and French molt. All of these names describe characteristics which have been associated with the disease. Since the syndrome has been diagnosed in numerous psittacine species in addition to cockatoos, the currently accepted name for the syndrome is psittacine beak and feather disease. In Australia, French molt and PBFD have been shown to be caused by the same virus, while in the United States they are currently thought to be two distinct diseases, caused by two different vlruses.>
What birds are most at risk for PBFD?
If you own psittacine birds, you should be concerned about the spread of this fatal disease. Currently, some 30 species of psittacines are considered susceptible to...
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