School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, 8140, New Zealand.
Department of Epizootiology with Clinic of Birds and Exotic Animals, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, 50-360 Wrocław, Poland.
J Gen Virol. 2013 May;94(Pt 5):1086-1095. doi: 10.1099/vir.0.050179-0. Epub 2013 Jan 16.
Beak and feather disease virus (BFDV) causes the highly contagious, in some cases fatal, psittacine beak and feather disease in parrots. The European continent has no native parrots, yet in the past has been one of the world's biggest importers of wild-caught exotic parrot species. Following the banning of this practice in 2007, the demand for exotic pet parrots has largely been met by established European breeding facilities, which can also supply buyers outside Europe. However, the years of unregulated importation have provided numerous opportunities for BFDV to enter Europe, meaning the likelihood of birds within captive breeding facilities being BFDV positive is high. This study examined the BFDV status of such facilities in Poland, a country previously shown to have BFDV among captive birds. A total of 209 birds from over 50 captive breeding facilities across Poland were tested, and 43 birds from 18 different facilities tested positive for BFDV. The full BFDV genomes from these 43 positive birds were determined, and phylogenetic analysis revealed that these samples harboured a relatively high degree of diversity and that they were highly recombinant. It is evident that there have been multiple introductions of BFDV into Poland over a long period of time, and the close association of different species of birds in the captive environment has probably facilitated the evolution of new BFDV strains through recombination.
禽喙羽病病毒（BFDV）可引起高度传染性的、某些情况下致命的鹦鹉禽喙羽病。欧洲大陆没有本地鹦鹉，但过去曾是世界上最大的野生外来鹦鹉物种进口国之一。自 2007 年禁止这种做法以来，对异国情调宠物鹦鹉的需求主要由成熟的欧洲养殖设施满足，这些设施也可以向欧洲以外的买家供应。然而，多年来不受监管的进口为 BFDV 进入欧洲提供了众多机会，这意味着圈养繁殖设施中的鸟类 BFDV 阳性的可能性很高。本研究检查了波兰这种设施的 BFDV 状况，波兰是此前已在圈养鸟类中发现 BFDV 的国家。对来自波兰 50 多个圈养繁殖设施的 209 只鸟类进行了检测，来自 18 个不同设施的 43 只鸟类 BFDV 检测呈阳性。对这 43 只阳性鸟类的完整 BFDV 基因组进行了测定，系统进化分析显示，这些样本具有相对较高的多样性，并且高度重组。显然，BFDV 已经在很长一段时间内多次传入波兰，而圈养环境中不同鸟类的密切关联可能通过重组促进了新的 BFDV 株的进化。
