Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Chlamydophila psittaci is a common cause of diseases in parrots ranging from being less serious to more serious. It is also a zoonotic disease which poses serious health problems to humans. The disease is highly under diagnosed. The symptoms in birds are nonspecific and may be indicative of many different diseases which make it harder to diagnose and treat. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of C. psittaci in Mälardalen, Sweden. The study used the ELISA antibody testkit which can be used in veterinary clinics. As an additional form of investigation, an analysis that is used prospectively was conducted on a newly developed PCR-test. Subsequently, the test responses from these two separate trials were going to be compared. The study revealed that 30 % of the examined birds were positive for the antibody C. psittaci. The material from the PCR test was quantitatively too small to draw any conclusions from.