Don't touch the birdie: Avian zoonoses
Channel: UPLB MNH
Date: 2020-09-29

MNH 44th Anniversary Webinar Session 2: 
"Don't touch the birdie: Avian zoonoses" 
Dr. Juan Carlos T. Gonzalez
Director and Curator for Birds
UPLB Museum of Natural History

ABSTRACT

This talk is an overview on Avian diseases known to be transmissible to humans (zoonotic), either through direct contact or through vector borne transmission. We enumerate several microbial pathogens (bacteria, viruses, fungi) and endo/ectoparasites (protozoa, mites, ticks) known to infect primarily wild and domesticated birds, but have been documented to impact man through zoonoses, either with resulting low or high risk of infection. This includes the widely recognized Bird Flu and West Nile Fever, and the less popular poultry and pet bird zoonotic diseases such as Chlamydophilosis, Salmonellosis, Colibacillosis, Tuberculosis, Encephalitis, Cryptococcosis, Lyme disease, Avian Bornavirus, Giardiosis, Campylobacteriosis and Cryptosopridiosis. We also enumerate several key Zoonotic Diseases associated with birds in the Philippines, based on confirmed case studies from published medical and veterinary diagnosis. This includes confirmed infections of Psittacosis, Newcastle Disease, Aspergillosis and Toxoplasmosis on Philippine birds and its inferences on both for humans and non-avian vertebrates. Reiterating the incidence of Avian Influenza in the Philippines after a long period of “negative” local cases amidst a global pandemic and their subsequent implications to public health and wildlife conservation. We also discuss the repercussions of these avian zoonotic diseases through anthropogenic impacts on threatened and endemic birds of the Philippines.