Abstract

In this study we present a screening procedure for Psittacine Herpesvirus, using a newly established ELISA and a Western blot confirmation test. Based on these two enzyme linked immunoassays 18.8% (56/298) of psittacine patients without clinical evidence of Pacheco´s disease or history of contact to diseased birds were tested PsHV-antibody positive. In sera from birds clinical signs indicative for Pacheco´s disease PsHV-antibodies could be detected in 33.3% (10/30). Applied to screening 14 aviaries with a total of 750 tested sera, an average of 37.3% of the birds had to be considered PsHV-antibody positive, with a range between 0% to 79.7%. This is the first report on the prevalence of PsHV in psittacines and indicates that a considerable percentage or captive birds are unapperently PsHV-infected.