A novel budgerigar-adenovirus belonging to group II avian adenovirus of Siadenovirus

Five budgerigars in the same breeding facility died or showed ruffled feathers. To determine the cause, five dead or euthanized budgerigars were examined. Splenomegaly was observed at necropsy in all birds examined. Histopathology of the spleen revealed a slight-to-moderate deletion of lymphocytes and increase of macrophages. Concurrent congestions in several tissues such as liver, lung, kidney, and/or brain and basophilic intranuclear inclusion bodies in the epithelial cells of renal tubules were found in all the birds examined. Psittacine adenoviral DNA was detected in the kidney of one of the five budgerigars by PCR. Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of the hexon gene revealed that the adenovirus gene detected in the budgerigar was derived from an unknown adenovirus belonging to the genus Siadenovirus. Using a new pair of primers based on the obtained sequence, we confirmed the presence of the newly found adenovirus in all five birds. The newly found unknown adenovirus is designated as Budgerigar Adenovirus 1.