VETERINARY
ASSOCIATES STONEFIELDFriday, May 21, 2004
IMPORTANT NOTICE
“Kentucky has reported out their first positive bird for West Nile virus in 2004. A mourning dove collected May 7, 2004 in Ohio Co. has tested positive. Illinois has also reported out a positive bird and a positive mosquito pool.” Sue K. Billings, DVM, MSPH Medical Epidemiologist Kentucky Department for Public Health
It is ESSENTIAL that Bird Owners limit the exposure of your pet birds to this deadly disease. Please contact the Hospital at 502-245-7863 for testing and vaccination information
This is a simple deadly disease to prevent, do not expose your birds to mosquitoes. If you feel you cannot or emotionally cannot stop yourself from taking your bird outside, you may consider vaccination. What you must realize is that the only vaccine for West Nile Virus is labeled only for use in horses. I waited two years for zoos around the country to vaccinate, and see what happened in terms of reactions, acute anaphylactic, or long term reactions. Thus far none have been seen. Thus I chose to vaccinate my own pet birds, this spring I believe it was, with the two dose protocol three weeks apart. I noticed no ill effects from the vaccine. While we do not have scientifically reproducible vaccine administration protection in birds, we do have the common sense results that zoos that have chosen to vaccinate have had fewer deaths from West Nile Virus, than zoos that chose NOT to vaccinate. I currently feel comfortable taking my birds outside in their cages so they can enjoy the sunshine, and I live in a highly mosquito infected area. If I have done the wrong thing and lose a bird to this disease you will hear about it here!
Since the vaccine is not labeled for birds, this is what is termed and “off-label” use, and requires signing a release form protecting the veterinarian who administered the vaccine, the hospital, Veterinary Associates Inc. and Fort Dodge the vaccine manufacturer. Intelligent falconers (people who have raptors to hunt with like Red Tails and Harris Hawks) are already vaccinated.
Also remember that as a GROUP psittacines (parrots family) are a low risk species for this disease.
This is versus raptors, like Red Tailed Hawks, who very commonly die from the virus. The problem is as a pet owner I am not interested in the “group” numbers, I want my baby to be protected, one death is not acceptable.
This year’s death has pre-empted last years first reported death in a bird.
Last year my friend and colleague Dr. Greg Rich reported two research papers on psittacines in aviaries from Southern Louisiana, where their aviaries are outside all of the time.
So it does kill psittacines, just not as often or with the same frequency as it does raptors.
Remember mosquitoes enter your home as well, sort of like heartworm disease in dogs. We have people say my dog can’t get heartworms he is never outside. My response always is “Oh, you have that magical home that mosquitoes do not fly into!”
I will hesitate to vaccinate birds for people who are overly concerned about reactions and seem to have a litigious attitude. In my opinion the vaccination is much less dangerous than driving an automobile to the hospital. Reactions can happen to anything, aspirin, sterile water, any vaccine, antibiotic etc.
Keeping you up to date with the latest information, from American Board of Veterinary Practitioners Meeting in New Orleans. This is the group that certifies us as Avian Specialists; there are currently about 126 of us on the planet.
Always expect me to change my views on certain subjects, if you have a vet who has told you the same things for the last 20 years, find a new vet, they are not keeping up! Next year I may tell you not to use this vaccine at all, the final decision is still out, and the fact is aviculture in general is so resistant to supporting research of their product (birds) that drug companies resist employing the time and money involved in producing, creating, and safety testing a vaccine such as this for such a niche product. Because they know the breeders are not going to buy it, we learned this lesson with Polyomavirus; apparently aviculture would rather accept a few deaths than spend a few extra bucks to sell a healthier product. Strong words I know, but they are the truth.
So would I vaccinate my birds against West Nile, you better believe it, I already have. Should you vaccinate, it all depends on your knowledge level of the disease, the knowledge that mosquitoes enter your home, and your acceptance of taking the risk to use and “off-label vaccine. Truth is if I only used drugs APPROVED for the use in birds, I would just bury most of my patients. VERY, VERY FEW DRUGS ARE APPROVED FOR USE N AVIAN AND EXOTIC PATIENTS.
If you want to possibly get a company to do the research to produce this vaccine for bird contact Biomune Company, the company that produces Polyomavirus vaccine for birds. They have actually toyed with the idea of an avian vaccine for West Nile in Pet Birds, even in the face of the dismal failure of aviculture to buy and use the Polyomavirus product. Contact Dr. Miguel Escobar at meescobar@aol.com, tell him you want to buy a vaccine to protect your beloved poet from this deadly disease.
In service,
Sammy Vaughn
“Kentucky has reported out their first positive bird for West Nile virus in 2004. A mourning dove collected May 7, 2004 in Ohio Co. has tested positive. Illinois has also reported out a positive bird and a positive mosquito pool.” Sue K. Billings, DVM, MSPH Medical Epidemiologist Kentucky Department for Public Health
It is ESSENTIAL that Bird Owners limit the exposure of your pet birds to this deadly disease. Please contact the Hospital at 502-245-7863 for testing and vaccination information
This is a simple deadly disease to prevent, do not expose your birds to mosquitoes. If you feel you cannot or emotionally cannot stop yourself from taking your bird outside, you may consider vaccination. What you must realize is that the only vaccine for West Nile Virus is labeled only for use in horses. I waited two years for zoos around the country to vaccinate, and see what happened in terms of reactions, acute anaphylactic, or long term reactions. Thus far none have been seen. Thus I chose to vaccinate my own pet birds, this spring I believe it was, with the two dose protocol three weeks apart. I noticed no ill effects from the vaccine. While we do not have scientifically reproducible vaccine administration protection in birds, we do have the common sense results that zoos that have chosen to vaccinate have had fewer deaths from West Nile Virus, than zoos that chose NOT to vaccinate. I currently feel comfortable taking my birds outside in their cages so they can enjoy the sunshine, and I live in a highly mosquito infected area. If I have done the wrong thing and lose a bird to this disease you will hear about it here!
Since the vaccine is not labeled for birds, this is what is termed and “off-label” use, and requires signing a release form protecting the veterinarian who administered the vaccine, the hospital, Veterinary Associates Inc. and Fort Dodge the vaccine manufacturer. Intelligent falconers (people who have raptors to hunt with like Red Tails and Harris Hawks) are already vaccinated.
Also remember that as a GROUP psittacines (parrots family) are a low risk species for this disease.
This is versus raptors, like Red Tailed Hawks, who very commonly die from the virus. The problem is as a pet owner I am not interested in the “group” numbers, I want my baby to be protected, one death is not acceptable.
This year’s death has pre-empted last years first reported death in a bird.
Last year my friend and colleague Dr. Greg Rich reported two research papers on psittacines in aviaries from Southern Louisiana, where their aviaries are outside all of the time.
So it does kill psittacines, just not as often or with the same frequency as it does raptors.
Remember mosquitoes enter your home as well, sort of like heartworm disease in dogs. We have people say my dog can’t get heartworms he is never outside. My response always is “Oh, you have that magical home that mosquitoes do not fly into!”
I will hesitate to vaccinate birds for people who are overly concerned about reactions and seem to have a litigious attitude. In my opinion the vaccination is much less dangerous than driving an automobile to the hospital. Reactions can happen to anything, aspirin, sterile water, any vaccine, antibiotic etc.
Keeping you up to date with the latest information, from American Board of Veterinary Practitioners Meeting in New Orleans. This is the group that certifies us as Avian Specialists; there are currently about 126 of us on the planet.
Always expect me to change my views on certain subjects, if you have a vet who has told you the same things for the last 20 years, find a new vet, they are not keeping up! Next year I may tell you not to use this vaccine at all, the final decision is still out, and the fact is aviculture in general is so resistant to supporting research of their product (birds) that drug companies resist employing the time and money involved in producing, creating, and safety testing a vaccine such as this for such a niche product. Because they know the breeders are not going to buy it, we learned this lesson with Polyomavirus; apparently aviculture would rather accept a few deaths than spend a few extra bucks to sell a healthier product. Strong words I know, but they are the truth.
So would I vaccinate my birds against West Nile, you better believe it, I already have. Should you vaccinate, it all depends on your knowledge level of the disease, the knowledge that mosquitoes enter your home, and your acceptance of taking the risk to use and “off-label vaccine. Truth is if I only used drugs APPROVED for the use in birds, I would just bury most of my patients. VERY, VERY FEW DRUGS ARE APPROVED FOR USE N AVIAN AND EXOTIC PATIENTS.
If you want to possibly get a company to do the research to produce this vaccine for bird contact Biomune Company, the company that produces Polyomavirus vaccine for birds. They have actually toyed with the idea of an avian vaccine for West Nile in Pet Birds, even in the face of the dismal failure of aviculture to buy and use the Polyomavirus product. Contact Dr. Miguel Escobar at meescobar@aol.com, tell him you want to buy a vaccine to protect your beloved poet from this deadly disease.
In service,
Sammy Vaughn
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