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Pox Pigeon pox is virus disease which is found most often in racing pigeons, and less commonly in fancy pigeons. The typical scabby deposits on the outer skin (pox) have given the disease its name. If these deposits occur on the beak and in the throat area, they are described as the mucosal form of pox. Young birds are more susceptible to the infection than adult pigeons where pox is rarely seen. Pox viruses are excreted by saliva, nasal and the lachrymal fluid. The fluids drip onto the loft floor and dry up. The pathogen containing dust is whirled up by the movement of the pigeons. For the pox infection to take, minute lesions or injuries need to be present (from pigeons pecking each other or the bite of a mosquito) into which the pathogen bearing dust can penetrate. There they cause locally confined but pronounced deposits. The scabby pox will occur especially in skin areas not covered by feathers, such as the orbital margins, the skin on the edge of the beak, the legs and feet. However the pathogens can also settle in the nasal cavity and the pharynx, the windpipe and the gullet may become obstructed by the yellowish deposits which are difficult to detach. The birds will suffocate of succumb from starvation. The skin and mucosal forms of pox can be easily recognized by the scabby deposits. Pox can be confused with canker, but canker usually never develops on the bare skin only in mucus areas. The medication of choice is: Pox Vaccine (Main Labs) Used by many fanciers, and almost a must in the South. This is the brush on type. One will remove (pluck) a few feathers from an area of the leg of their pigeon and expose the skin from where the feathers were removed, brush on the vaccine onto this area.
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