Parrots (Order Psittaciformes) are globally distributed birds that, together with members of the
Columbiformes, represent the most susceptible animals, in regards to infection by Chlamydophila
psittaci, which is an obligate, zoonotic, intracellular bacterium that causes chlamydiosis in domestic
and wild birds and psittacosis in humans. The aim of the present study was to assess the occurrence
of C. psittaci in Brazilian psittacids kept in conservation breeding sites in Par? State, Brazil. Cloacal
and oropharynx swab samples were collected from 201 psittacids that were distributed among four
breeding sites: Metropolitan Area of Bel?m (C1 and C2), Northeastern Par? (C3), and Low Amazon
(C4). The samples were screened for C. psittaci using semi-nested PCR, and the resulting incidence
data were analyzed using proportion and chi-square tests. Chlamydophila infection was confirmed for
all the breeding sites, with an overall prevalence of 31.84%, and no species-specific predisposition was
observed. Furthermore, 13.93% of the sampled birds eliminated the infectious agent by the cloaca,
whereas 11.44% eliminated the agent by the oropharynx, and 6.47% eliminated the agent by both
routes. Moreover, there was a significant difference between the incidence of Chlamydophila infection
of breeding sites C2 and C3 (p=0.029), which yielded the smallest and largest number of diagnosed
cases, respectively. In the present study, most of the birds (27.86%) were considered unapparent carriers
of Chlamydophila infection, and only 3.98% of the birds yielded both a positive diagnosis and clinical
signs of chlamydiosis.
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