3.1 PCR detection and prevalence analysis of PiCV infection in Chinese racing pigeons
In this study, PiCV was detected in samples from both the sicked and apparently healthy racing pigeons. Six hundred and twenty-two samples including serum samples (n=571) and tissue samples (n=51) obtained from 39 racing pigeon clubs in 11 provinces or municipalities of China between 2016 and 2019 were subjected to the detection the occurrence and prevalence of PiCV by using PCR technique. The results of PCR detection indicated that the positive rates of PiCV were 19.3% (120/622) at the sample level. Among the samples, 14 samples from the 51 sick pigeons (positive rate, 27.4%) and 106 samples from the 571 apparently healthy pigeons (positive rate, 18.6%) were PiCV positive, respectively. In our study, 23 out of the 39 racing pigeon clubs tested were positive for PiCV (positive rate, 59.0%) (Table 1). Detailed information on 120 PiCV positive samples from racing pigeons in China is shown in Table 1.