Psittacine beak and feather disease (PBFD) in parrots
Other names: Beak and feather، PBFD، Circo
Symptoms
- Deformed/pinched/dead feathers and symmetrical feather loss after every molt
- Pin feathers with blood or constricted
- Long, flaking, brittle beak (especially white cockatoo)
- In chicks: weakness, septicemia, pneumonia and sudden death before feather changes appear
- African grey: anemia and severe leukopenia without feather changes
- Weak immunity and recurrent secondary infections
How it spreads
Through the mouth, nose and cloaca; the virus is shed in droppings and crop contents (parents to chicks), and feather dust and dander carry a high concentration and cling to clothes and hair. The virus is extremely hardy in the environment.
Diagnosis
PCR from blood or a mouth/cloacal swab or feathers, and environmental PCR from cage swabs; skin/feather follicle biopsy (inclusion bodies). Repeat the test after 90 days for asymptomatic positives.
Treatment
No specific treatment; supportive care, stress reduction and treatment of secondary infections. In farms, permanent isolation or euthanasia of clinical cases is common.
Prevention
PCR test for every new bird before mixing, quarantine, vacuum/clean feather dust, do not accept unknown birds into the nursery, and do not allow other breeders to touch the birds. There is no commercial PBFD vaccine; experimental vaccines only (Leus et al. 2026).
Treatment and doses are decided by an avian vet after an exam; Zajel does not publish doses.
Other diseases
- Polyomavirus
- Proventricular dilatation disease (PDD) / bornavirus
- Pacheco's disease (psittacid herpesvirus)
- Internal papillomatosis
- Avian pox
- Newcastle disease (bird paralysis)
- Avian influenza
- West Nile virus