Pacheco's disease it is named after the Brazilian veterinarian, Genesio Pacheco, who first came across the disease in 1929, in an outbreak affecting the turquoise-fronted amazon parrot, "Amazona aestiva". Initially, Pacheco's disease was thought to be a manifestation of avian psittacosis. The causative agent of the disease, a herpesvirus, was not identified until 1975. Pacheco's disease Pacheco's disease is an acute and often lethal infectious disease in psittacine birds. The disease is caused by a species of herpesvirus, Psittacid alphaherpesvirus 1 (PsHV-1), which consists of four genotypes. Birds which do not succumb to Pacheco's disease after infection with the virus become asymptomatic
Feral pigeon that wild birds would encounter in nature. "We couldn't infect the pigeons," Swayne said. "So that's good news." However, other contagion besides bird flu are transmitted by pigeons. For example, the bacteria "Chlamydophila psittaci" is endemic among pigeons and causes psittacosis in humans. It is generally transmitted from handling pigeons or their droppings (more commonly the latter). Psittacosis is a serious disease but rarely fatal (less than 1%). Pigeons are also important vectors for different species of the bacteria "Salmonella", which causes diseases as salmonellosis and paratyphoid fever. They are also known to host avian mites, which can infest human