3.1 PCR detection and prevalence analysis of PiCV infection in Chinese racing pigeons
In this study, PiCV was detected in samples from both sicked and healthy racing pigeons. The results indicated that the positive rates of PiCV were 19.3% (120/622) at the sample level. Among the samples, 14 out of 51 sick pigeons (positive rate, 27.4%) and 106 out of 571 healthy pigeons (positive rate, 18.6%) were identified to be PiCV positive, respectively. In this study, 23 out of 39 racing pigeon clubs were positive for PiCV (positive rate, 59.0%) (Table 1). Detailed information for 120 PiCV positive samples from racing pigeons in China is shown in Table 1.