Sarco

[BirdsUnlimited]

If you can get your hands on the proceedings from the AFA meeting in SanFrancisco from about 17 years ago, Kevin Clubb, (Dr. Susan Clubbs husband) gave a great talk on Sarcocystis falcutella (spelling might be off). Birds could appear fine during the morning feed and dead on the way back out from feeding. It's a bacteria, could be treated in the babies but the eggs are probably dead.

[Lynjupiter]

I had a friend lose an inside bird to Sarco and she keeps a clean house. You never see a roach in her house. She had seventeen birds in a huge plexiglass flight and only one died. My friend noticed her tiel sick and it was dead within hours.

The cockroach is considered a mechanical carrier. It eats the possum feces and then spreads the disease when it defecates in the birds food bowl or the bird eats the roach. Nonamerican birds are more likely to get Sarco ( tiels, toos, ekkies, african birds) then south american birds. They say it is because South American birds have some resistance to the disease because they come from a place that has possums.

I have read the writings of Dr. Clubb on Sarco. ABRC did a lot of research. Though I found there methods stomach turning.
It consisted of putting a bunch of cockatoos together and releasing sarco contaminated roaches into the room.
I think Sarco is the scariest of avian diseases. Even if you notice your bird getting sick there is nothing that can be done.
Lynda

[Lynjupiter]

Originally Posted by BirdsUnlimited

If you can get your hands on the proceedings from the AFA meeting in SanFrancisco from about 17 years ago, Kevin Clubb, (Dr. Susan Clubbs husband) gave a great talk on Sarcocystis falcutella (spelling might be off). Birds could appear fine during the morning feed and dead on the way back out from feeding. It's a bacteria, could be treated in the babies but the eggs are probably dead.

You can also find Dr. Clubb's research on Sarco in the book Psittacine Aviculture, Perspectives, Techniques and Research. It is a big black book with a palm cockatoo on the cover.

BTW it is not a bacteria! It is a protozoan parasite. It only transfers to babies when the babies hatch and parents feed them contaminated food.
Lynda

[Roto4]

What is Sarco? We sometimes get like little moths a few and the bird lady said that it was when you buy food that's old that sits on the shelf too long...........What else do you look out for I'm trying to read alot of bird books but, never heard of Sarco...........Reba the Roto4

[Monica]

Susceptible to sarco
Other than a sensitivity to pellets, eclectus suffer from no major health problems. Like any parrot, they do best with 10 to 12 hours of quiet, uninterrupted sleep each night, but if this isn’t possible, they will make up for it with naps during the day.

Beware of one possible problem if you keep your eclectus in an outside aviary during the fall or winter and live in a warm climate: sarcocystosis. As an "Old World” parrot (one from Australia, Asia or Africa), the eclectus has no natural resistance to this disease, which is almost always fatal.

Sarcocystosis starts with an infected grackle or cowbird eaten by an o’possum. Aviary parrots usually pick up the one-celled organism that causes the disease, the Sarcocystis falcatula, from cockroaches that have visited the infected o’possum's feces.

You can protect Old World aviary parrots from sarco by tightly screening their habitats.

For more info, check out
http://www.exoticpetvet.net/avian/sarcocystosis.html
http://www.vet.uga.edu/vpp/clerk/rantze/
http://www.funnyfarmexotics.com/PALM/Append5.htm

As for those moths, they are usually referred to seed or flower moths... Many get into seeds, especially ones produced in bulk. If you get a fresh bag and don't notice any bugs, it's simply easiest to freeze as much seed in the bag or in seperate containers into the freezer and use out of the freezer daily. They can sometimes come back after freezing overnight (happened to me once so far). As of yet, they haven't caused any major harm in birds, except for some being frightened of the moths, or the moths landing on the bird at night causing night frights.

Sarco isn't really heard of much in the avian books because it's not an avian disease... it comes from possums, and hasn't been 'seen enough' in the avian world to really make a huge difference.

[Winged_Victory]

This is from one of Susan Clubbs books:

Sacocystosis has been described as a cause of muscular disease in birds. The causitive agent, Sjarcocystis falcatula, is a heteroxenous coccidian parasite that alternates beween a sexual, intesinal phase in the difinitive host and a asexual, mutiorgan and muscular cyst phase in the mtermediate host. Cockroaches and flies can act as a transport for this disease" This is a muscular disease in muscular form, weakness of wings, legs, and birds may not be able to fly or walk.

It sounds like it is quick acting as cysts were noticed after 8 days and matured in 2-7 weeks after infection. Clubb does list a form of treatment if it is found in time.

Gary

[Joel]

Gary......Would you mind stating the treatment for Sarcocystis that Clubb uses? And in her book(s) does it say whether the birds were cured for good after that treatment. Thanks.

[BirdsUnlimited]

I stand corrected, not a bacteria. It was very late, I shoulda known better.

[Winged_Victory]

Originally Posted by Joel

Gary......Would you mind stating the treatment for Sarcocystis that Clubb uses? And in her book(s) does it say whether the birds were cured for good after that treatment. Thanks.

The book I opened is Avian Medicine and Surgery, p 528.

The treatment for the muscular form of saccocystosis is at least a 6 week course of pyrimethamine (0.5mg/kg PO ever 12 hours) and trimethoprim/sulfadiazine (30mg/kg PO every 8 hours). She says birds are sometimes unresponsive to treatment and their may be relapses.

There is another section that says in areas where cockroaches are present and possibly carry saccocystis falcatula, a potential hazard is adding insecticide to the nest material is that cockroaches may die and be eaten by the adults or nestlings, resulting in infection with sarcocystis.

Other reference here recommends the same treatment, Avian Medicine and the manual of Avian Priactice.

I see I need to purchase a scanner as it would be easier than typing!

Gary

[Joel]

Thanks Gary.....Lol, yeah scanners make life a lil easier.

My Med book says close to the same but differs on the method of delivery of second drug T/S : IM BID for 30 days..




[quote=Winged_Victory]The book I opened is Avian Medicine and Surgery, p 528.

The treatment for the muscular form of saccocystosis is at least a 6 week course of pyrimethamine (0.5mg/kg PO ever 12 hours) and trimethoprim/sulfadiazine (30mg/kg PO every 8 hours). She says birds are sometimes unresponsive to treatment and their may be relapses.