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The vast majority of diseased birds admitted to clinics and rehabilitation centers died. All the birds came to City Wildlife with symptoms so severe that they died within days or their illness had developed to the point where they had to be euthanized. Dr. “It has been an emotionally draining experience, being able to do nothing but ease the pain of these birds,” Chooljian said in an email.
Recently, the Arlington Animal Welfare Association in Virginia was also flooded with sick birds not responding to medication. “I’ve never lost so many birds before,” said Jennifer Toussaint, the league’s chief animal control officer. Concerned that the disease could be transmitted to other birds, both City Wildlife and the Arlington Animal Welfare Association now recommend that the birds be left to feed.
Although the cause of the disease officially remains a mystery, people have put forward a number of theories. On the Internet, your favorite criminal Brood X, periodic cicadas Having spent the last 17 years underground, but boiling this year, Singing masses, around the time of avian disease outbreak. While many cicadas’ long-awaited bacchanalia went off without a hitch, others fell prey to a zombification. White Mushroom, some have speculation may be the cause of the disease.
Dr. According to Chooljian, the eye symptoms were initially similar to those associated with mycoplasma conjunctivitis disease, also called finch eye disease. But the sick birds did not respond to the clinic’s usual treatments for house finch eye disease, and this did not cause neurological symptoms, he added.
“Who knows at this point,” said Dr. Casey added that he didn’t want to rule out anything, but was skeptical of the cicada hypothesis. “Overall, most of us tend to have a nascent bacterial infection,” he added, pointing to eye lesions similar to conjunctivitis caused by bacteria.
Dr. According to Casey, full results from the diagnostic lab may not come for another few weeks. Dead birds, eyeballs and flesh were subjected to a series of molecular tests for fungi, parasites and bacteria. However, he added that the possibility of all these tests being inconclusive still exists, adding that the diagnostic lab is keeping a handful of corpses for retrospective testing for years to come.
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