Anti-Infectives (Track)

Response o Therapy With Potassium Arsenite In Falcons Infected With Avipoxvirus

Walter Tarello
Pet Connection Veterinary Clinic, Al Barsha 1, Summer Land Building, P.O. Box 450288, Dubai, UAE

Abstract:

Avian pox is a contagious viral disease characterized by the presence of typical poxvirus lesions on the featherless skin parts of a bird’s body, such as feet, cere, beak and eyelid. Birds of prey from the Middle East are naturally exposed to avipoxvirus infection through insect bite, direct contact with lesions or by aerosol. With few exceptions only Falconidae originating from Arabian countries have so far tested positive for poxvirus, and, among these, only raptors kept for falconry.

The aim of this study was to provide a safe and effective therapy for avipoxvirus infection in falcons from the Middle East. To this purpose, chemotherapy was based on the use of potassium arsenite, a solution of arsenic trioxide with potassium bicarbonate, which proved recently successful in inhibiting in vivo Capripoxvirus infection in sheep.

Diagnosis was based on evidence of ‘dry’ skin poxes, microscopic detection of Bollinger bodies and isolation of the avipoxvirus in one representative case.

Falcons from Kuwait (n=46) were treated intramuscularly with potassium arsenite at doses of 0.37 mg of As/Kg/day, for 8 consecutive days. Collateral signs disappeared in an average time of 2.6 days and complete healing of skin poxes was achieved in an average recovery time of 9.3 days.

Falcons from Dubai (n=46) were not treated. In this control group 3 birds died, collateral signs disappeared in the average time of 7.5 days and skin poxes healed in the average time of 25 days.

Avipoxvirus-infected falcons treated with potassium arsenite experienced a significantly 3-fold shorter recovery time and absence of mortality compared with untreated falcons.

This study indicates that potassium arsenite can sharply decrease the severity and duration of cutaneous and collateral signs of avipoxvirus infection in falcons and prevent the associated mortality.

The efficacy of potassium arsenite was recently proved in sheep naturally infected with Capripoxvirus (Tarello and Kinne, 2007) and its active molecule, arsenic trioxide, has recently shown in vivo inhibitory effects against HTLV-1 virus in human beings (Mahieux and Hermine, 2005)

Therefore, it should not be controversial to observe similar outcomes in falcons infected with avian pox. To date there is no cure for pox and this assumption motivated this clinical trial with potassium arsenite which showed no side effects.     

Additionally, arsenic trioxide is today successfully used for treating a variety of blood and solid cancers (Waxman and Anderson, 2001) and this excludes a potential carcinogenetic risk.

REFERENCES

Mahieux, R., Hermine, O., 2005. In vivo and in vitro treatment of HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 infected cells with arsenic trioxide and interferon-alpha. Leukemia and Lymphoma 46, 347-55.

Tarello W., Kinne J., 2007. Complete remission after treatment of Capripoxvirus infection in sheep using potassium arsenite 0.5% (Fowler’s solution). Revue de Medecine Veterinaire158, 489-492