Recovery of Ornithosis Agent from Naturally Infected White-Winged Doves

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Abstract
Tissues and blood samples were collected from wild white-winged doves (Zenaida asiatica) during August, 1959 and 1961, soon after unusual die-offs among these birds in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. An agent belonging to the psittacosis-lymphogranuloma-trachoma (PLT) group of large viruses was recovered from tissues of 6 of 13 doves found dead or moribund in 1959 and from an obviously ill juvenile dove in 1961. The agent was identified by examining microscopically the tissues of experimentally infected animals and embryonated eggs and by complement-fixation tests on pre- and post-inoculation sera of guinea pigs and turkeys. One of seven dove sera was reactive in the indirect complement-fixation test, indicating prior exposure to this virus. This is believed to be the first report of naturally occurring ornithosis in this species of bird. It is suggested that the ornithosis agent was directly implicated in the 1959 and 1961 die-offs of juvenile doves and that further epizootiological studies are needed.

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