Prevalence of Chlamydia in free-living birds in Distrito Federal, Brazil

Chlamydia is a genus of obligate intracellular bacteria that may cause lethal endemic avian chlamydiosis, epizootic outbreaks in mammals, and respiratory psittacosis in humans. At present few studies have been carried out on the prevalence of this microorganism in neotropical free-living avian species. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of Chlamydia in the free-living avian species in Distrito Federal (DF), Brazil. We anayzed blood samples and cloacal swabs of 53 avian species from two conservation units in DF. The detection of Chlamydia was performed by amplification of a major outer membrane gene (ompA) fragment by a nested polymerase chain reaction. The prevalence of Chlamydia was observed in 83% of the avian species studied. In most of them, we found evidence that Chlamydia-positive individuals were shedding the bacterium in their feces, representing a significant source of infection for other wild and domestic avian species, and particularly for humans.