Chlamydial infections, caused by a group of obligate, intracellular, gram-negative bacteria, have health implications for animals and humans. Due to their highly infectious nature and zoonotic potential, staff at wildlife rehabilitation centers should be educated on the clinical manifestations, prevalence, and risk factors associated with Chlamydia spp. infections in raptors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDuring 2018, four free-ranging conures, from a naturalized flock in San Francisco, presented with a characteristic set of neurologic signs that had been reported in other individuals from this flock. The cause of morbidity or mortality in historic cases has not been identified. From these four subjects, fresh feces were collected during their initial days of hospitalization and submitted to the University of Georgia Infectious Diseases Laboratory and Center for Applied Isotope Studies for bromethalin and desmethyl-bromethalin quantitation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChlamydiaceae bacteria infect many vertebrate hosts, and previous reports based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays and serologic assays that are prone to cross-reaction among chlamydial organisms have been used to describe the prevalence of either DNA fragments or antibodies to Chlamydia spp. in wild raptorial populations. This study reports the PCR-based prevalence of Chlamydiaceae DNA that does not 100% match any avian or mammalian Chlamydiaceae in wild populations of hawks in California Buteo species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn 2013, a mortality event of nonnative, feral Rosy-faced Lovebirds ( Agapornis roseicollis) in residential backyards in Maricopa County, Arizona, US was attributed to infection with Chlamydia psittaci. In June 2014, additional mortality occurred in the same region. Accordingly, in August 2014 we sampled live lovebirds and sympatric bird species visiting backyard bird feeders to determine the prevalence of DNA and the seroprevalence of antibodies to C.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo determine the efficacy of 21-day therapy with azithromycin and doxycycline in the treatment of experimental infection with Chlamydophila psittaci in cockatiels (Nymphicus hollandicus), 30 birds randomly assigned to 3 treatment groups and 1 control group were inoculated with C psittaci by combined intranasal and ocular routes. Morbidity, mortality, and results of polymerase chain reaction testing confirmed that infection was successful. Birds in group 1 (n = 8) received azithromycin at 40 mg/kg PO q48h for 21 days; in group 2 (n = 8), doxycycline at 35 mg/kg PO q24h for 21 days; in group 3 (n = 8), doxycycline at 35 mg/kg PO q24h for 45 days; and, in group 4 (controls; n = 6), no treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHuman infection with Chlamydophila (Chlamydia) psittaci can lead to psittacosis, a disease that occasionally results in severe pneumonia and other medical complications. C. psittaci is currently grouped into seven avian genotypes: A through F and E/B.
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