The only sign in larger parrots may be a healthy appearing hand feeding baby who drops over dead. One case of a Macaw death was an 8 week old baby who appeared perfectly normal throughout his short life. He vomited on day 57 of life and fell over dead. UDL now offers sensitive and virus specific DNA swab tests for screening live birds by cloacal swab. Cloacal swabs to screen individual birds that are actively shedding virus.
Positive results mean only that there is viral DNA present in the submitted sample.
This does not say clinical disease is present, but strongly suggests a carrier state. 2.A twice annual screening of breeding collections. Ideally swabbing just at the end of laying eggs is best, the birds are stressed by laying and this increases the chances of them shedding virus. Closed aviary protocols are important to follow. All birds in one location need to be screened and found negative and no new birds should be added to this location for any reason until they have had appropriate testing.