A retrospective study on the detection of viral, bacterial, parasitic and fungal diseases among captive exotic birds on a breeding farm in penang, malaysia from 2017-2021

An abstract of the research paper presented to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University Malaysia Kelantan, in partial requirement on the course DVT 55204 - Research Project. The mass importation of those exotic birds has increased the number of households keeping these birds. If not given the proper care, these exotic birds can be infected by bacterial, fungal, parasite or viral pathogens. The importation can lead to the introduction of transboundary diseases such as chlamydiosis, Pacheco’s disease and many more. This retrospective study involving exotics birds on a breeding farm was done to know the percentage of detection for viral, bacterial, parasitic and fungal diseases among the exotic birds using results of laboratory disease screening and post-mortem findings of diseased birds from 2017 to 2021, retrieved from farm records. Based on the analysed data, there were zero bacterial and viral infection cases from the samples taken from live exotic birds. However, infectious disease was detected among dead captive exotic birds in which the percentage of bacterial disease that has been detected is the highest (35.7%) in which most of the bacterial infection is caused by Escherichia coli (40%) and followed by parasite disease (28.6%) and viral disease (14.3%). In conclusion, the disease detection among live exotic birds was zero indicating that the farm has a good biosecurity measure which keeps the farm free of disease. However, the presence of diseases detected from dead exotic birds suggests the possibility of disease carriers which may lead to an isolated case of infection. Identifying and determining the presence of the disease may aid in developing appropriate preventive strategies and controlling the spread of the disease.
Keywords: Retrospective study, Escherichia coli, disease detection, biosecurity