Newsletter May 2011-3

Hidden (?) defects (3)

In our story about the hidden defects in pigeons last time we were ended with among others the circovirus, the herpes virus and the paramyxovirus.

When the pigeons suffer of a virus , they are not really able to perfome. We even risk that by insufficient rest for the pigeons also problems with other latent diseasesoccur . Diseases that normally donot seem to influence them.This could include ttrichomiasis, coccidiosis, staphylococci, streptococci and other respiratory infections. And thus the circle is almost round again.
All these infections need an intervention with drugs to decrease the problems.. But still we do nothing to the underlying cause of viral infections.
In particular, the staphylococci can play parts in the airways. And this bacteria can be difficult to control by antibiotics. Short courses have in these cases only very limited results if the underlying causes are not tackled and the pigeons resistance is not increased.

I earlier mentioned fungal infections that can result from rampant antibiotic use. Candida albicans is a yeast that can form a mycelium, and thus can cause problems. In human medicine, this yeast is also blamed for the chronic fatigue syndrome. Increase of this yeast, especially on the youngsters again lead to moderate flight performance in the offspring and increased susceptibility to other infections which then in turn be treated badly by the presence of these Candida.
Fungal infections can thus also contribute to making the problem complex .

 

What has the pigeonfancier to do that ended in this trouble?
First, he does not cherish the illusion that there is a panacea that will solve his problems as well. He must not surrender to antibiotic use without informed basis. Study should show whether there is a need for antibiotics and if so, which antibiotics.
We all have a responsibility to contribute to unnecessary antibiotic use reduction. (If necessary, good, powerful and targeted treatments using sufficient length and certainly not half-cycles because the means are so strong.)

Furthermore, he should make a quarantine ward for pigeons to be isolated. Hygiene should be accelerated also the hygiene of his own hands because of possible virus transmission by his own hands. In some cases it may be necessary to reduce the amount of pigeons to help reduce the infection. In cases where the ventilation is not optimal special care should be spent to solve this problem. More air and more sunshine may help reduce infection.
And the individual resistance of the pigeon should be increased.

 

When we go back to the fancier from the beginning of the story, with this sort of pattern of complaints that consult me , I will have to try to convince him that a simple cure cannot solve this problem. I will advise him our basic system.
Even a dose of more than 14 days of Bony sambuccaplus may belong to the treatment in such cases. The support of this basic system can contribute to improving the general immunity .The pigeons are given the opportunity to overcome the latent infections.
It is a process that takes time. Forcing makes no sense.
Administering foodsupplements designed to bring the healthy pigeons in form in these situations is doomed to failure. First, these pigeons need to get their latent gremlins under control.
It is clear that the apparently increased risk of virus infections ask for a better resistance of the pigeons. If the resistance is as high as possible than it is plausible that the viruses are causing less damage.

 

Any time kan be started to improve the overall resistance, but since this process takes time,it is best to start early. For youngsters, the time to an ideal start with a different approach is after weaning. A good resistance may contribute to a more mature bird. All the energy that is not put into overcomming the infections kan be used for the pigeons own development. The immune system can develop better if there are given fewer antibiotics in the first year of life. So we see that it is important to increase the resistance of the birds, quite apart from the fact that together, we have to decrease antibiotic use.

In addition, building a good immunity through vaccination requires a timely start of vaccinating. The circovirus really makes the building of a good immunity a lot harder. In some cases it's required to be vaccinated twice.Due to the booster effect the pigeons make enough antibodies.