Hygiene protocol for Pacheco

[Beatriz Cazeneuve]

The most important thing about Pacheco is containing the infection so, as soon as I suspected it as the cause of the recent deaths, I immediately caught all the large birds and put them in individual cages.

Every single cage and every single surface was washed with a solution of water, dish detergent and Clorox. This included cages, walls, ceiling, floors, windows (I wiped them with pure white alcohol vinegar after I washed them to get rid of the streaks), window sills and moldings, platforms, etc. I also washed and soaked overnight in hot water and Clorox every single bowl, toy and perch. After the initial scrubbing, I would wipe every horizontal surface on a daily basis as well as wipe every trace of poop anywhere. Because that is the key: to eliminate poop! The virus is shed in the poop and, when it dries up and becomes a powder, it floats in the air and it's inhaled by healthy birds infecting them, ergo, the whole idea is to eliminate this step to avoid contagion. I did this with a three-pronged approach:

a) I increased humidity. I normally have the humidifier running during the day but have it off at night but I now have one that runs during the day and another one that runs at night while the first one gets cleaned with hot water and Clorox and allowed to dry so as not to create a fertile ground for bacteria or fungi. I did this because I figured that the more humid the air, the longer it would take for poop to dry out and also because humidity would diminish the number of particles that become airborne.

b) I also increased the air purification in the same manner, one during the day and one during the night. I bought extra filters and, at the end of each 'shift', the filters get taken out, rinsed with a strong stream of lukewarm water and submerged in cold water with Clorox for about ten minutes (cannot leave them longer or use hot water because the 'accordion' ones loose their shape).

c) I also became the 'poop police' and checked several times a day the bottom trays and exchanged the paper as soon as there was any poop on it.

The sick birds were isolated in a different room and had their own brand new double set of bowls so there would always be a clean set waiting to be used as well as a set of towels of their own. In the morning, I would do the healthy birds first and then the sick and, after I left the sick room in the am, I would change clothes so I would not carry the virus back into the 'clean' room. In the evening, I would, again, do the healthy birds first and then the sick and, the next day, wear clean clothes again. I also wore a shower cap on my hair and a different pair of shoes (actually, slippers) that I left right outside the door of the sick room. I used gloves to handle the birds and medicate them but not so much because I was afraid to bring the virus back on my hands but because sick birds are very susceptible to secondary opportunistic infections and one wants to avoid this at all costs as their immune system can become overwhelmed and fail very easily.

I had two containers next to my sink, one was a mug with water, dish detergent and Clorox (it would get changed daily) where I would soak the used syringes and the other was a plastic basin where I would soak the food and water bowls of the sick birds.