Le malattie virali degli psittacidi

Abstract

Psittacine birds have always been interesting to humans for their intelligence, curiosity and beauty. Indeed, this interest led psittacine birds to become pets. The transition from the wild world to the captivity was marked by an intense global trade. This trade, that originally didn’t go under regulation, has been responsible for the spreading of parrots all over the world, thus, allowing the amplification of parrots’ infectious diseases including viral diseases. Worldwide, the most frequent diseases are now: Psittacine beak and feather disease (PBFD), characterized by symmetric feather dystrophy and loss and by the development of beak deformities, caused by a Circovirus, which is widespread in the wild as well as in captivity; Pacheco’s disease (PD), caused by Psittacid herpesvirus type 1 instead, acute lethal disease without a prodrome; furthermore, Proventricular Dilatation disease (PDD), which is caused by psittacine avian bornavirus, a fatal inflammatory disease that damage the neural system, especially the autonomic portion of the gastrointestinal tract. These viral diseases represent an important challenge in veterinary medicine because of the difficulty in diagnosis, treatment and prevention, due to the lack of information about them. In this thesis the etiology, clinical features, pathology, epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment and control of these viral diseases are reviewed.