Macaw Wasting Disease

tags: researchblogging.org, Macaw Wasting Disease, myenteric ganglioneuritis, proventricular dilatation disease, Bornaviridae, avian bornavirus, negative strand RNA viruses, pan-viral microarray, ViroChip One pair of the Little Blue (Spix's) Macaw, Cyanopsitta spixii. This species is extinct in the wild and its captive population consists of roughly 70 to 100 individuals. Image: Fundação Parque Zoológico de São Paulo (São Paulo Zoo), Brasil. For more than 30 years, a mysterious disease, known as proventricular dilatation disease (PDD), has sent chills of terror down the spines of…