Article on PBFD and cleaning
Hi all -- this article came across one of my mailing lists recently (TEC) and I thought it was really interesting -- an Eclectus owner talks about the process of cleaning PBFD from her house:
I adopted Pandora (SI Eclectus) soon after she'd arrived at a pet store in San Diego, having been stuck in a little cardboard box without food or water for 3 days because the UPS plane had been grounded (9/11). She was a little beat-up for a four-month old; severely clipped, and suffering from a combination of aggression and indignation, and very withdrawn inside herself. Once home, she had fallen a couple of times at night. I brought her back to the pet store's vet inside of the two-week warrantee window, and was told that she was fine--just a typically clumsy baby eclectus.
I took her to another vet. The feathers around her nares were damp. "She's just going through a heavy molt, and she might have an infection." He took a choanal swab and gave me some antibiotics. (You folks already know how I feel about giving meds without a diagnosis). The result was that she had a very slight infection. I didn't like the way things were looking.
She lost more feathers, and finally the tip of her beak...it looked like rotted wood. Someone on TEC had just posted something about PBFD. I hit the Internet. I went to two more vets the next day and finally had the test done. She was positive. We'd had her now maybe 6 or 7 months. I hit the Internet again. I talked with people all over the world--vets, zoo curators, breeders, scientists, universities, laboratories... I had files and files and files of the latest information... I made a special soft food mixture, and during her last few weeks, still hoping to boost her failing immune system, I gavage-fed her. I watched her weight...monitored everything she consumed...I knew when she started having kidney failure. 8 months after we'd brought her home, we lost her.
Damage control: As soon as I had the diagnosis, I notified everyone who had come in contact with her (who had birds). The breeder, the pet store I purchased her from, the pet store where I boarded her. To my knowledge, no birds at the pet store ever contracted the disease. I'm not sure what the results were with the breeder, but they claimed to have randomly tested and were unable to detect any evidence of the disease. I was not going to pursue that any further--I had a house full of the smallest known virus in existence capable of causing disease: circovirus PBFD.
CLEANING: From July 2002 through March 2003, I had a steady stream of cleaning people: one person who cleaned twice a week, and a crew of five people who came in for one week, on three different occasions.
* All surfaces of every room, starting with the upper levels , working downward, were cleaned. It was recommended that I just repaint the
interior of the house and replace the carpets, but I figured that I would have to clean the surfaces before they were painted anyway...so why not just clean? (I was wrong. I would have spent about the same amount of money, and had new carpet). By room, we started with the ceilings, followed by walls, and then floors. Once a room was *CLEAN*, it was closed off from the rest of the house (and gave us a place to store "cleaned" things). Only the essential *living rooms* of the house were used until the job was finished.
*All surfaces of every object in each room (no, I'm not kidding)--this included taking pictures off the wall, removing books, papers; everything was wiped with a damp disinfectant cloth. All blinds were removed, steam cleaned, and sprayed with a disinfectant. All bedding and curtains were taken to the dry-cleaners and kept in sealed, labeled bags until an area was *clean* for storage. ALL clothing. Three computer keyboards went to the shop for disassembly and cleaning.
*Cleaning Solutions: I ruined a lot of things with repeated exposure to bleach--even 5% was amazingly destructive. An avian curator at a zoo who'd had a great deal of experience with PBFD gave me a lot of advice, as did my test lab, Research Associates Laboratory in Dallas Texas. My zoo buddy recommended Oxy-Fresh or Oxy-Clean (I don't recall anymore) as an oxidizing agent that wouldn't do as much destruction as bleach, but was still able to kill the virus. That became our primary household cleanser (even had the carpet cleaner make an extra round with it).
*I threw away everything that was questionable. I threw away her cage because all of the supports were hollow extrusions. All of her toys
went. Play stands went outside for repeated cleanings and for exposure to sunlight.
* Mapping: I made a diagram of each level of the house--where rooms were, doorways, windows, furniture--and marked the *high traffic*areas into zones, each one numbered. On each room diagram I made comments as to where I took samples (you use a swab that fits into a collection tube). I labeled the tubes with the zone numbers only (to eliminate bias), and in every batch, I included had one completely clean swab and labeled it as though it were another zone (--if this one EVER came up positive, the whole test procedure would have to be validated and repeated). Only I had the map and the comments.
The first test was depressing (12 zones plus the control) came back still strongly positive. I repeated the cleaning procedures and tested
again. Better, but now I had areas that tested very strong, strong, and weak. I repeated the cleaning and tested again. Every single zone was negative. I repeated some of zones. Still clean.
I never really believed that the house would test negative, and I was struggling with what results I could accept/justify in my mind before
bringing another bird home. The breeders I was talking to were also nervous about selling me a bird. I am also not fool enough to believe that there are not still strands of the circovirus here and there. This is an extremely stable virus, and I've read about positive test results showing up after ten years (a piece of furniture was moved just before testing). That was one of the reasons I was inclined to adopt a mature bird--one with a better developed immune system... But clean was clean. If I couldn't test for it anymore, I had done all I could. Q came home a couple of weeks after the last test.
Honestly, it was like having the AIDS virus in the house--except it could be breathed, ingested, transported on fabrics and shoes... The important message here is that PBFD is not just any ordinary avian disease. Bringing another bird(s) into a contaminated environment is like playing roulette with all but one chamber LOADED. There is one good test (PCR), and there are ways to test the environment, but if you've had PBFD in your home or aviary, you must know that you have a real responsibility.
Best wishes to anyone who undertakes a project like this. Anyone who has other concerns or questions may email me privately.
The post then included her email address, but I'm reluctant to post it on a public forum -- anyone who'd like to speak with her can drop me a comment and I'll forward the email. =)
I adopted Pandora (SI Eclectus) soon after she'd arrived at a pet store in San Diego, having been stuck in a little cardboard box without food or water for 3 days because the UPS plane had been grounded (9/11). She was a little beat-up for a four-month old; severely clipped, and suffering from a combination of aggression and indignation, and very withdrawn inside herself. Once home, she had fallen a couple of times at night. I brought her back to the pet store's vet inside of the two-week warrantee window, and was told that she was fine--just a typically clumsy baby eclectus.
I took her to another vet. The feathers around her nares were damp. "She's just going through a heavy molt, and she might have an infection." He took a choanal swab and gave me some antibiotics. (You folks already know how I feel about giving meds without a diagnosis). The result was that she had a very slight infection. I didn't like the way things were looking.
She lost more feathers, and finally the tip of her beak...it looked like rotted wood. Someone on TEC had just posted something about PBFD. I hit the Internet. I went to two more vets the next day and finally had the test done. She was positive. We'd had her now maybe 6 or 7 months. I hit the Internet again. I talked with people all over the world--vets, zoo curators, breeders, scientists, universities, laboratories... I had files and files and files of the latest information... I made a special soft food mixture, and during her last few weeks, still hoping to boost her failing immune system, I gavage-fed her. I watched her weight...monitored everything she consumed...I knew when she started having kidney failure. 8 months after we'd brought her home, we lost her.
Damage control: As soon as I had the diagnosis, I notified everyone who had come in contact with her (who had birds). The breeder, the pet store I purchased her from, the pet store where I boarded her. To my knowledge, no birds at the pet store ever contracted the disease. I'm not sure what the results were with the breeder, but they claimed to have randomly tested and were unable to detect any evidence of the disease. I was not going to pursue that any further--I had a house full of the smallest known virus in existence capable of causing disease: circovirus PBFD.
CLEANING: From July 2002 through March 2003, I had a steady stream of cleaning people: one person who cleaned twice a week, and a crew of five people who came in for one week, on three different occasions.
* All surfaces of every room, starting with the upper levels , working downward, were cleaned. It was recommended that I just repaint the
interior of the house and replace the carpets, but I figured that I would have to clean the surfaces before they were painted anyway...so why not just clean? (I was wrong. I would have spent about the same amount of money, and had new carpet). By room, we started with the ceilings, followed by walls, and then floors. Once a room was *CLEAN*, it was closed off from the rest of the house (and gave us a place to store "cleaned" things). Only the essential *living rooms* of the house were used until the job was finished.
*All surfaces of every object in each room (no, I'm not kidding)--this included taking pictures off the wall, removing books, papers; everything was wiped with a damp disinfectant cloth. All blinds were removed, steam cleaned, and sprayed with a disinfectant. All bedding and curtains were taken to the dry-cleaners and kept in sealed, labeled bags until an area was *clean* for storage. ALL clothing. Three computer keyboards went to the shop for disassembly and cleaning.
*Cleaning Solutions: I ruined a lot of things with repeated exposure to bleach--even 5% was amazingly destructive. An avian curator at a zoo who'd had a great deal of experience with PBFD gave me a lot of advice, as did my test lab, Research Associates Laboratory in Dallas Texas. My zoo buddy recommended Oxy-Fresh or Oxy-Clean (I don't recall anymore) as an oxidizing agent that wouldn't do as much destruction as bleach, but was still able to kill the virus. That became our primary household cleanser (even had the carpet cleaner make an extra round with it).
*I threw away everything that was questionable. I threw away her cage because all of the supports were hollow extrusions. All of her toys
went. Play stands went outside for repeated cleanings and for exposure to sunlight.
* Mapping: I made a diagram of each level of the house--where rooms were, doorways, windows, furniture--and marked the *high traffic*areas into zones, each one numbered. On each room diagram I made comments as to where I took samples (you use a swab that fits into a collection tube). I labeled the tubes with the zone numbers only (to eliminate bias), and in every batch, I included had one completely clean swab and labeled it as though it were another zone (--if this one EVER came up positive, the whole test procedure would have to be validated and repeated). Only I had the map and the comments.
The first test was depressing (12 zones plus the control) came back still strongly positive. I repeated the cleaning procedures and tested
again. Better, but now I had areas that tested very strong, strong, and weak. I repeated the cleaning and tested again. Every single zone was negative. I repeated some of zones. Still clean.
I never really believed that the house would test negative, and I was struggling with what results I could accept/justify in my mind before
bringing another bird home. The breeders I was talking to were also nervous about selling me a bird. I am also not fool enough to believe that there are not still strands of the circovirus here and there. This is an extremely stable virus, and I've read about positive test results showing up after ten years (a piece of furniture was moved just before testing). That was one of the reasons I was inclined to adopt a mature bird--one with a better developed immune system... But clean was clean. If I couldn't test for it anymore, I had done all I could. Q came home a couple of weeks after the last test.
Honestly, it was like having the AIDS virus in the house--except it could be breathed, ingested, transported on fabrics and shoes... The important message here is that PBFD is not just any ordinary avian disease. Bringing another bird(s) into a contaminated environment is like playing roulette with all but one chamber LOADED. There is one good test (PCR), and there are ways to test the environment, but if you've had PBFD in your home or aviary, you must know that you have a real responsibility.
Best wishes to anyone who undertakes a project like this. Anyone who has other concerns or questions may email me privately.
The post then included her email address, but I'm reluctant to post it on a public forum -- anyone who'd like to speak with her can drop me a comment and I'll forward the email. =)