4. Discussion
PBFD is a debilitating disease of psittacine birds and may have
serious implications such as huge economic loss or cross species
transmission of the disease. Also, non-availability of viable treatment
options may lead to endangering ofthe species. Until recently,
the disease was only identified when clinical signs like deformed
beak and feathers appeared on the bird. Serological tests suchas heamagglutination (HA), heamagglutination inhibition (HI) and
ELISA have been inconsistent due to unavailability of standardized
reagents [11,16]. Culturing the virus in vitro has also proven to be
difficult [14]. Therefore, accurate and timely diagnosis of the disease
using rapid and sensitive methods is imperative, to track this
disease in the region and implement effective control measures.
In 2009, we established a real-time Taqman PCR assay in our
Laboratory, to detect psittacine beak and feather disease virus (circovirus).
The assay is very sensitive, specific and reliable and can
detect viral particles from as low as 3.5 fg of total DNA from the
sample. In the first year (2009) one bird sample submitted by a
farm owner tested positive using this assay. Since then, there has
been a constant rise each year in the number of samples submitted
for Circovirus testing (Fig. 1). From the high number of African Grey
Parrots,Macaws andCockatoos submittedfor analysis,it seems that
these birds are more popular with private owners (Table 1). This is the first report on the incidence and detection of PBFD virus in the
UAE. Comparative studies with other methods were not done. The
study was also limited by the type and number of samples and the
background information provided to us by clients.