Another vet visit and a Jasper update

[katie_fleming]

Hey everyone,

I wanted to give you a quick update about Jasper. The bacterial culture from his crop wash showed there were TWO infections. I read the names to my Dad and he said one of them wasn't a pathogen, it was actually a pro-biotic.

I relayed this info to my vet to have her check up on it, and it is a healthy bacteria. Apparently the lab who provides the results to them don't always indicate if it's a harmful bacteria or not. He would have been treated for it when he didn't need it. Scary.

So the ONE infection he has right now is Enterobacter which is what he had the first time. Turns out the broad spectrum he was treated with the first time is actually RESISTANT. It could have knocked it down which is why it wasn't spotted on his follow-up crop wash, but then re-grew once he went off the meds.

He is now on the proper anti-biotic to kill the Enterobacter for three weeks, so hoping this will be the end of the infection. I am relieved it's the same infection as the first time, and knowing he wasn't treated with the right medication. I did pay for a bacterial culture the first time though, so I am surprised that they didn't correct the anti-biotic when they found out the results. (Especially when the broad-spectrum was on the resistant list) I guess since they didn't see any bacteria on the crop wash they assumed it was gone.

Jasper will have a crop wash AND gram stain in 3 weeks before he finishes his antibiotics, and AGAIN one week afterwards. I'm thinking if there had been a gram stain done the last time it would have caught that the bacteria wasn't actually gone. But you wouldn't necessarily do a gram stain if you don't see bacteria on the wet mount....

Jasper will also have follow-up xrays to check the size of his proventriculus. She had mentioned it was within normal range when he had xrays done last month but was a bit larger than expected. But then she also said at his age it's normal for it to be slightly bigger. So we'll see what it looks like in another month or so.

I've decided to do the follow-up xrays before any PDD testing. From what I've read the test is unreliable (blood work) since it can often show a false positive, or negative even though they could have it. A crop biopsy would be more reliable but I'm not having any surgery done on Jasper unless it's necessary. I will explore other options first, but start with the Xray in a few months.

Hope you're all well, thanks for reading

 

[Anansi]

I'm very glad to hear that Jasper is only dealing with one infection at the moment rather than two, and I'm hoping that this time his antibiotic puts the infection down for good.

I also agree wholeheartedly with your decision to have follow-up x-rays taken. And especially since she did notice that the proventriculus was on the larger side of the normal range. Short of the crop biopsy, it would be among the most accurate indicators of a possible PDD infection. And at this point, I probably wouldn't be looking to do a surgical procedure either. Of course, if he got sick yet again within the next few months my opinion on that might change. But as things stand, I agree that you could probably hold off on doing a crop biopsy.

Oh, let me just clarify one thing. (For any as interested as I am in this disease and the current limitations of our ability to detect it. I won't take it personal if any eyes glaze over at this point. Promise.) The issue with the ABV test is not that there are false positives. There is definitely an issue with false negatives, as ABV can only be detected whilst actively shedding, but there are no significant instances of false positives.

Rather, the issue is with what exactly a positive would mean. There are 9 variant strains of Avian Bornavirus, but only two are known to lead to the clinical signs of PDD. But any one of the 9 strains, if detected, will yield a positive test result. Hence, while a positive result can mean everything, there is also a chance it could mean nothing. Or, at least, nothing pertinent to your bird's situation.

And keep this in mind. The figures for birds in the captive community who would test positive for one of the nine strains of ABV is projected to number northwards of 50%. That's roughly half of the captive avian population whose birds would potentially test positive... yet obviously the number of birds who actually have either PDD or one of its two precursors is significantly less.

So that's why I initially tend to put more stock in x-rays than the blood test. Pending the outcome of the x-ray, I would then consider the blood test as well. A positive result at that point, along with an x-ray finding that indicates an enlarged proventriculus or largely undigested food in the ventriculus or beyond, would likely obviate the need for a biopsy of the crop. In my opinion, anyway. I would then just jump straight to PDD treatment, as early treatment is key.