Newsletter Pigeon March 2012

The topic of the last newsletter was the scientific aspect of variola viruses. In this newsletter I will address the more practical aspects of this infection.

Practical notes.

The past few years showed more and more variola outbreaks. It used to happen that when there was a sudden outbreak, everybody panicked and vaccinated their pigeons. This caused some sort of graft blanket over the pigeons, which made sure that the next year there were almost none outbreaks. And because the pigeons do not suffer from the pox, the vaccinations dropped. Many called out that the variola had been eradicated. But after a few years when the resistance against variola was low, there were massive outbreaks among the pigeons and the whole history repeated itself again.

The last few years variola occurs not just when we expect it in the after summer and the early fall, but sometimes from April through October. Personally, last year I spotted the first case of smallpox in March and the last in late November. We can hardly speak of a seasonal disease. This does not mean that the outbreaks of smallpox were substantially dramatic, the greater part of the infections were not that severe, but the lingering course which seems to be bounded to the smallpox infections makes acting resolute and preventive really necessary. Surely, a variola outbreak happens on the most inopportune time.

First of all, you can decide to quit the game and overcome the disease. This can take a few weeks. On the other hand, you can choose an emergency vaccination. If we decide this and use the combination PMV-pox vaccination, the damage of the vaccination in the season is not too bad. Some pigeon lovers choose to administer the vaccination some three weeks before a `big` flight to boost the resistance. The opinions over the worth of this are ranging.

Be aware that the infected section has to be vaccinated last to prevent the spread of the infection. And vaccine the infected pigeons on the infected section last.

If you want to vaccine the pigeons through the feather follicle method then you have to act differently. The pigeons have to have a vaccination reaction after eight to ten days, which can give a relapse. Usually, you cannot expect great accomplishments from these pigeons.

The benefit of the emergency vaccination is that the virus disappears quickly from the dovecot and the risk of sitting and watching the pigeons for weeks diminishes. Surely, if your widowers have the smallpox infection, the chance of finding the infection among the youngsters is greater. Through the emergency vaccination we create some kind of dam. The pigeons who were infected before the infection, will still develop symptoms. The pigeons that were vaccinated on time will be resistance to the wild virus after ten to fourteen days.

What is the best time to vaccinate?

Personally, I think we should try to prevent variola outbreaks through vaccinating on time. And on time is at least six weeks prior to the flight season if you are using the feather follicle method.

Since this is probably the only method this year (we heard that the vaccine liquid for paratyphoid as well as the Columbovac PMV-pox is not available anymore) it is advisable to vaccinate the pigeons in time in case of the availability of the vaccine liquids.

If you want to protect the youngsters through the egg, than is vaccination four to six weeks before coupling advisable.

In Holland you can purchase only the vaccine liquid of Diphtofarm when you are using the feather follicle method. The results are good. The best thing to do is vaccinate in the leg. Vaccinating on the breast can lead to severe annoyance because of extreme vaccine reactions. We have seen cases in which the vaccinated pigeons did not use the wing in which they were vaccinated.

In Germany there is another variola vaccine liquid of the company Chevita available.

In the past there were other vaccine liquids available. The reactions on these vaccine liquids were doubtful. There was a brief period when an American vaccine liquid was available, but it seemed to generate smallpox. A different vaccine liquid was so powerful that the pigeon's form deteriorated, and even the lack of vaccine reaction was reason to question if the vaccine worked proper or not.

Why are there more smallpox infections?

The last few years we have seen more smallpox infections, but also more Herpesinfections. I have been asked a lot why this is the case. Although it is not a scientific study, I think that the presence of the Circovirus is a contributing factor. The Circovirus, which I will address in a later newsletter, decreases the resistance in a way that they cannot fight of any normal infection. These infections can remain in the pigeon's body without being cleaned out by the immune organ. In case of a viral infection, the chances are that the virus adapts to the host and mutates to spread further. It is possible that the rise and persistence of these viruses partly is caused by this.

This year I saw some lovers where we vaccinated the youngsters for the smallpox. In hindsight, these youngsters were infected with the Circovirus. The pigeons had an extreme skin reaction on the feather follicle vaccination. So extreme that after three weeks the scabs were still moist.

Some of these pigeons developed small pox on the beak.

Understandable, the pigeon lovers thought that the vaccine did not work. But is it more likely that the Circovirus interfered with the vaccine reaction, so the pigeons tried to remove the scabs with their beak and got the virus in their beak what developed in to small pox on the beak.

It was typical that this only happen in a section where the pigeons were suspected of a Circovirus infection. In other sections where the same flask was used, the vaccine reaction was not that powerful.

In view of the fact that during the vaccination of youngsters, when it is unknown if these pigeons have a latent Circovirus infection, we cannot be sure if the pigeons are protected for years against variola.

Before the Circovirus existed, we could easily assume that the vaccinated pigeons would not contract a new smallpox infection. Usually a onetime vaccine was sufficient. But that is nowadays different. When there is no indication of the presence of the Circovirus, than a onetime vaccination will work. But when there is any uncertainty when vaccination youngsters, it is possible that the later Circovirus will spoil the vaccination. And keep the pigeons on a lower resistance. Not only will the smallpox virus occur after a while, which means that the vaccine liquid gets wrongly a bad name, but is it to be expected that the protection of the couple is lower that it should be.

So my advice for now is, that as long as there is no vaccination against the Circovirus: please vaccinate your pigeons every year. And in its generality. Vaccinate the pigeons against infections, if possible (if there are any vaccines). And vaccinate against variola well before the flight season, if you are using the feather follicle method.

Finally, it has to be noted that getting an infection is closely related to the general resistance of the pigeons. It is wise to give the geneal health some attention.

Good luck,

Peter Boskamp