Bordetella avium is a small, gram-negative, non-fermentative, motile, strictly aerobic bacillus responsible for the avian disease referred to as bordetellosis. This bacterium was first isolated from young turkeys in 1967 and officially named Bordetella avium in 1984. Although it is an economically significant disease in turkeys, B. avium has also been isolated from cockatiels, Wagler’s conures, a Jenday conure, a Muluccan cockatoo and a noble’s macaw. There are further reports of B. avium being isolated from numerous other species of birds including chickens, finches, budgerigars, Japanese quail and ostriches. In cockatiels, B. avium commences a path of infection by colonizing the ciliated epithelium of the bird’s tracheal mucosa. As the disease progresses, it will destroy this outer layer of tissue along the respiratory tract, and produce toxins that can affect other groups of tissue in the body. In this respect, B. avium acts similar to its human counterpart – Bordetella pertussis (whooping cough) however, there is no evidence that B. avium can infect humans. The bacterium is easily transmitted by aerosols, leading to a rapid spread of the disease in facilities where birds are housed closely together. Bordetellosis in psittacine birds manifests with upper respiratory signs such as sneezing, nasal and ocular discharge, swelling of the infraorbital sinus, and lockjaw. Involvement of the lower airways is infrequent. Experimental inoculation with B. avium in cockatiel chicks suggests a 1-2 day incubation period (HealthGene Corp: Bordetella avium).
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