Why Quarantine

[afqu]

I had written this a few years ago, and seems appropriate to post.
Jean

Why Quarantine?

This is probably one of the most mis-understood necessities of owning
birds. When one is quarantining a bird or birds it is to protect the
old flock as well as the new. Each group of birds live in their own unique
environment, and have built up immunities to the organisms (good and bad)
that they are exposed to daily. Regardless of where a new bird is
purchased from, or how impeccable the husbandry or the reputation of the
seller, quarantine should be regarded as a very necessary practice.

The new bird is crated and taken from its eco-system and placed in a
totally new environment with a multitude of organisms (good and bad) that it
has never been exposed to. During this move to the new location some
stress will be experienced. This stress can be very minor or it can be a
major upset, depending on the nature of the bird, the difference in
environment and how the bird reacts to it. During this time of stress, the
birds immune system may become suppressed, and the bird may not be in as
good a physical shape as when it left it's home. If the bird is not
quarantined, it will be bombarded by millions of new organisms and the immune
system will need to kick in and respond to all these new germs (good and
bad). With a compromised immune system the bird will not be able to
surmount a good response and may indeed fall victim to an organism that normally
would not be pathogenic (disease causing) in this bird in a different
situation.

The new bird now becomes ill and starts shedding vast amounts of this
now (new to him) pathogenic organism, and also starts shedding organisms in vast
amounts that the bird brought with him from his old environment. We now
have millions of pathogens in the environment that the resident birds
are being exposed to. Some are new germs, and some are old that they had
immunities to, but the shear volume is more than they can handle. Now we
have old and new birds getting sick, and of course one believes this
disease came with the newest arrival.

Obviously, if any of the birds involved had an existing disease, the
consequences would be much worse.

Had this arrival been quarantined properly, his stress level would not
have been so great and his immune response would have been able to build up to the smaller amounts of organisms it was exposed to. After a gradual time of small exposures, the immune system can build immunities at a much more normal pace, and not become compromised. This gradual transition into a new environment proves beneficial, and necessary to all the birds involved.

Even if a new bird is quarantined away from the new environment, it still has to be introduced to its permanent residence slowly. In that case, a bird may go through two quarantine phases.

Think of a healthy child going to kindergarten for the first time, and all the “bugs” he is exposed to. It works the same way.

Germs don't read one-way signs.