Detection of Avian Bornavirus (ABV) in wild and captive Passeriformes in Brazil.

Avian bornaviruses (ABV) are the causative agents of proventricular dilatation disease (PDD), a fatal neurological disease considered to be a major threat to psittacine bird populations. We performed a RT-PCR survey to detect the presence of Canary avian bornavirus (CnBV) in passeriformes related to different clinical manifestations, such as sudden death, neurological signs, apathy, anorexy, excessive beak growth and PDD. A total of 227 samples from captive and wild canaries were included, of which 80 samples were captive birds, comprising saffron finches (n=71) and common canary (n=9), and 147 samples were from wild birds distributed among a variety of several species. Two samples from captive birds (2/80) were positive for ABV, and in wild birds, only one sample was positive for ABV. The positive samples were subjected to DNA sequencing, and only the serotype CnBV-1 was found. This was the first time that the serotype CnBV-1 was detected outside of Germany. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed that avian bor...