Pacheco’s Disease Outbreak with High Mortality in Brazilian Captive Psittacine Birds

Psittacid Alphaherpesvirus 1 (PSHv-1) is the causative agent of Pacheco's disease that infects psittacine birds, highly transmissible and presenting high mortality rate. Here we describe the investigation of 98 sudden deaths of birds, belonging to 8 Brazilian native psittacine species, divided in two outbreaks, one year apart between 2016 and 2017, in a breeding farm in So Paulo State, Brazil. PSHv-1 was detected in 6 species (61 birds) through Nested-PCR, that tested negative for Influenza, Paramyxovirus, Flavivirus, and Adenovirus. Genetic sequencing and phylogenetic analysis support these results.