Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease in Iran, Molecular and Histopathologic Detection

Psittacine beak and feather disease (pbfd) is a major viral disease in wild and captivepsittaciformes an around the world. the disease was suspected in a 7 years old lesser sulphurcrestedcockatoos (cacatua sulphurea) with a minor feather loss at the back of neck and head.the bird was comprehensively examined by macroscopic pathology, histopathology andpolymerase chain reaction (pcr). marked intracellular edema of the keratinocytes andnecrosis were evidentin histopathological observation ofdystrophic featherfouicjes. numerousmacrophages with cytoplasmicincjusions botryoid and prevasculitis were also present in thedermis. histopathologically, the feather lesions and inclusions were typical of pbfd. thepresence ofpsittacine beak and feather disease virus (bfdv) dna was confirmed by pcr. thisis the first documented report of the occurrence of'the pbfd in iran.