treatment for Newcastle disease

[pigifan]

Is there a treatment for Newcastle disease ?

Yesterday I found 2 sick pigeons (coming from the same flock) that were very weak and are gasping for air while their eyes were damaged/closed. Also there was a foul smell coming from the mouth.
I thought it was canker and gave them spartrix.
During the night one pigeon died. I did a necropsy and there were no canker nodules.

I saw on a site that among the symptoms of Newcastle disease are: gasping for air and scarring of the eye tissues.
I thought canker does not involve scarring of the eye tissues so I suspect Newcastle Disease.

[pdpbison]

Hi pijifan,



Probably this is not Newcastle...but could be a Chlamydia or Herpes or a combination of things.


Be extra creful in washing your hands and so on, or keeping these seperate from other Birds.


Most of the eye infections I have seen cleared up readily with Antibiotic Eye Ointment, and were not per-se associated with whatever illness - if any - the Pigeon had.


Canker can sometimes see them gasping toward the end, but, so to can anemia, or anything causing compromises of the Heart, Lungs, Blood or Circulatory system...so...


Make sure you gat the surviving one well hydrated, since dehydration was/is likely an issue for him if his eyes have been infected...


Otherwise...


"...eyes were damaged or closed..."


Well, of course those are two pretty different things...


Eyes 'closed' is usually a sign of extreme withdrawl...or etreme fatigue or weakness...


Make sure he is rehydrated ( electolytes ) , warm, and let us know a description of the poops?


Good luck..!


Phil
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[pigifan]

Thank you for your quick reply Phil.

The poops are light green and very watery.
Before I caught the one that died there was a similar light green discharge from the mouth.

Is there a way to treat clamydia ?
One of the eyes is always closed whereas the other can open to a half-open/ half-closed when the pigeon tries to see. There is some dried substance around the eyes.

[Pidgey]

Chlamydophila (the newest name; old names were Psittacosis, Ornithosis and Chlamydiosis) is treated with a Tetracycline, the best being Doxycycline. That's most normally give as Vibramycin, an injection lasting a week at a time and given over six weeks (45 days). Sometimes, it starts with an injection and shifts to an oral medication later.

Chlamydophila is zoonotic--that means you can contract it too. There are other diseases that it can be and you'd rather it was something else, quite frankly. Baytril will reduce the clinical symptoms of Chlamydophila and several others as well--if you've got any of that, you can start him on it. It won't clear the carrier state of Chlamydophila but it will for a lot of the other possibilities.

Pidgey

[Feefo]

Hi Pijifan,

Newcastle Disease (it is referred to as END outside the UK) is primarily a disease of poutry and it is extremely rare for pigeons to catch it. During the California outbreak a few years back they only identified it in two pigeons that had been foraging in an infected poultry farm

It is a virus, so no remedy. In the UK if it is identified in a poultry farm all the birds are culled .

Cynthia

[pigifan]

Unfortunately the pigeon died 1 hour ago.

There seems to be an outbreak in this flock as I have identified 3 others that are sick but are not yet in the state when they can be caught.
Whatever it is, it is very contagious. I have never seen a flock with so many pigeons becoming sick in such a short period of time. The day before yesterday I also found another pigeon (with an eye that could not open while the other eye only just could) that died as I was taking him home.

I do have doxycline tablets and baytril and will try them if I catch any others tomorrow.
I actually gave Baytril (along with spartrix) to the pigeons that died.

Why do they all have an eye that can't open and in most cases the other opens with great difficulty ? I mean it must be something else in addition to the exhaustion - a concurrent infection ?

[Feefo]

Good luck, Pigifan.

Cynthia

[pigifan]

Thank you Cynthia, Pidgey and Phil for your responses.

[pigifan]

I did a search for ornithosis and found that " a milky yellow liquid may extract from the nostrils and then dry & obstruct them " so I guess this could also be the cause of the eye problem.
I also read it is called "one-eyed cold".

[pigifan]

If it is Herpes Virus I guess there is no treatment - is there ?

[Pidgey]

Very few treatments for viruses and the ones that exist are generally, for lack of a better explanation, very narrow-spectrum. Acyclovir has been used to treat herpes in some cases.

It'd be good to have one of these birds necropsied--that's about the only way that you can get ahead of something like that. However, you have to understand that if it turned out to be true Chlamydophila (which often does go through flocks that roost together), you definitely run a certain risk to yourself. Therefore, you should maintain very strict hygiene for yourself and get some kind of germicide that will effectively kill Chlamydophila.

Pidgey

[Pidgey]

Incidentally, it's not the easiest thing to test for (Chlamydophila) and most vets would send stuff off to a lab. However, in a case like that, a trained person might be able to make an impression smear from conjunctival tissue (since it's obviously affected), stain it with Diff-Quik, Gimenez or Macchiavello's (seems like there are a few more that will work) and look for small intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies within any cells on the slide. That sounds a lot more difficult than it really is--a vet tech is usually going to be the person who fixes and stains the slide and the vet will usually read it although a lot of vet techs can do that too. You're just looking for a smoking gun and some guidance through this deal and that's about as cheap and simple as it could get. Most vets are going to actually have a Diff-Quik setup in a back room because it's very fast and useful.

Pidgey

[pdpbison]

Originally Posted by pigifan

Thank you for your quick reply Phil.

The poops are light green and very watery.
Before I caught the one that died there was a similar light green discharge from the mouth.

Is there a way to treat clamydia ?
One of the eyes is always closed whereas the other can open to a half-open/ half-closed when the pigeon tries to see. There is some dried substance around the eyes.

Hi pigifan,


Do you mean the 'poops' were a light green fecal, with 'watery' urates?


Or..? Fecal matter and urates combined in a light green watery material of uniform color and texture? Maybe sort of like a Sage Green sort of Water-Color Paint puddles or something?




Phil
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[Happy]

Has anyone thought that this could be a Poison causing this. It is a Feral Flock isn't it? I would think of this 1st. over disease's... JMO~~~~~ Hap

[pdpbison]

Hi Hap,


I agree, it could be poison of some sort...not a usual Avicide, but something incidental-accidental, or improvised if intentional...something which would harm the liver or kidneys...but the Eye issue would not likely arise from that.

Sprayed Poisons which a Bird might get into an Eye would tend to be insecticides or herbacides, and these would occasion different, and primarily neurologic/global symptoms I think...


Phil
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