Table 4.

Summary of clinical data associated with main pet bird zoonotic diseases [[41]]

Disease	Sensitive species	Clinical signs	Necroptic lesions	Diagnostic (sample/analysis)	Remarks and Pitfalls	Treatment	Human symptoms
Blood-sucking mites	All	Nestlings: weakness, anemia, death Adults: AA, respiratory distress, depression	None	Direct examination	Dermanyssus gallinae: hide in cages anfractuosities and could not be found on birds themselves	Ivermectine, permethrins in spray. Total disinfection of cages and facilities (see also chapter 4)	Dermatitis, pruritus
Chlamydo-philosis	Psittacines – canaries – finches	AA, SBS, diarrhea, nasal discharge, dehydration, Ocular signs	Air sac lesions, hepato-splenomegaly	CSw, OSw, FE/BC, serology (paired serology 2 weeks apart),IMF, PCR	Asymptomatic carriage (up to 40%), false negative	Tetracyclins (1st of 2d generation)	Flu-like syndrome, genital, articular, skin symptoms
Salmonellosis	All (open-air aviaries)	AA, WL, diarrhea, mild respiratory symptoms	Congestive gastro-intestinal tract, hepato-splenomegaly	CSw, FE	Mostly in winter and in outdoor aviaries; hard to differentiate from pseudo-tuberculosis	Not recommended (high probability of antibio-resistance)	Gastro-intestinal infection
Tuberculosis	Psittacines (canaries?)	Progressive AA, WL, respiratory symptoms, long bone lesions	Cachexia, osteolysis spots in long bones, lung lesions (non caseous)	RX (bone lesions), OSw/MO (Ziehl-Nielsen), BC, HP	Chronic development, sometimes during months to years; human origin infection	Not recommended (high probability of antibio-resistance)	Chronic pulmonary symptoms (caseous lung knots), generalized infection
Campylo-bacteriosis	Estrildidae mostly.	Apathy, yellow feces (solid or liquid)	Cachexia, congestive gastro-intestinal tract, containing a yellow amylum or undigested seeds.	FE/MO (curved rods in stained smears), BC	Canaries and psittacines are asymptomatic carriers	Not recommended (high probability of antibio-resistance)	Gastro-intestinal infection, Gillain-Barré syndrome
Avian Influenza	Passerines	Sudden death, SBS, respiratory and neurological signs	Dehydration, respiratory lesions	OSw, CSw, BS/HP, PCR	Mostly in outdoor aviaries	None	Mild to severe respiratory and systemic infection
West Nile fever	All	Ocular and neurological signs		OSw, CSw/PCR	Mostly asymptomatic carriage	None: prevention based on limitation of exposure to mosquitoes (vectors)	Mild to severe respiratory and systemic infection, encephalitis, septicaemia, death
Newcastle disease	All	SBS, AA, ocular, respiratory and neurological signs	Dehydration, respiratory lesions	OSw, CSw/serology		None; prevention by vaccination	Cunjunctivitis, mild flu-like symptoms
Toxoplasmosis	Canary, finch, budgerigar minah	SBS, AA, respiratory and neurological signs, blindness	iridocyclitis, panophthalmia, catarrhal pneumonia, hepato-splenomegaly	CSw/MO, serology, HP, PCR	Systemic symptoms sometimes unseen; detection of the disease 3 months later (blindness)	Trimetoprim-sulfamids	Mostly asymptomatic. Abortion, congenital malformation.
Giardiosis (G. duodenalis)		None	None				Sometimes asymptomatic. WL, diarrhoea, abdominal pain
Crypto-sporidiosis	All	Rare; acute diarrhoea	Gastro-enteric lesions	CsW/MO		Ronidazole	Gastro-intestinal symptoms; liver, pancreas, respiratory tract lesions
Cryptococcosis	Parrots, little pet birds	Rare	None	CSw/MO	Possible aerosol-borne contamination		Mostly asymptomatic. Respiratory and nervous symptoms.

AA apathy-Anorexia, WL weight loss, FE feces examination, BC bacterial culture, MO microscopic observation, SBS sick bird signs (ruffled feathers, standing at the bottom of the cage, depression), HP histopathology (including immunocytochemistry), BS blood sample, CSw cloacal swab, OSw oral swab, IMF Immunofluorescence, PCR polymerase chain reaction.