> Recently, I've read the discussions regarding protection of babies 
 > from
 > disease.  I believe lab coats and showers before handling is a
 > bit extreme.  Can you imagine the bacteria and viruses that are 
 > rampent
 > in nature?!  Thourough hand washing will always be the best defense 
The only problem is that we're offering an UNNATURAL environment to our 
birds; they're not in nature. So they're subject to problems that they may 
not encounter in the wild. Ventilation is one of the best defenses against 
many of the viruses and bacterias, etc. which, of course, is in the wild but 
may not be adequate in a caged environment.
So the necessary precautions (notice I called them "necessary" and not 
"paranoid") we take are protecting our birds somewhat from an unnatural 
environment.
 > feeding.  My Blue-fronted Amazon has tested positive for Giardia.
 > We learned this, at the vet, right after we purchased her.  The vet 
 > cautioned 
 > us about keeping her and told us the effectiveness of treatment was 
 > less than 
 > 40%. His advise was to return the bird to the pet store.  By this 
Giardia is usually not life-threatening but it usually cannot be eradicated 
either. Medication can control giardia but that's about it. Giardia is fairly 
common in some of the more commonly kept species, including cockatiels. 
Sometimes babies will succumb to giardia if their human caretaker doesn't 
realize there's a problem. Frankly, I think the vet's advice to return the 
bird may have been a little extraordinary since, as I said, it is 
controllable. Now if the bird had one of the viruses or even psittacosis, 
that would be a different story!
 > Recently, 
 > Milwaukee water was found to carry this organism.  Obviously, Rita 
 > picked 
 > up the disease in this manner.  Would her immunity have been 
 > stronger if she 
 > hadn't been hand-fed from day one?  It seems the more we mess with 
 > nature, 
 > the more problems we invite.
Actually the problem Milwaukee had a few years ago (when you all had to drink 
bottled water for a few weeks) was from cryptosporidium. There may have been 
some giardia, but that's considerably easier to control than cryptosporidium. 
From what I understand, even adding bleach to the water didn't kill that 
stuff!
Re her immunity: it all depends on how the handfeeder raised the bird. There 
are effective products on the market that strengthen a bird's system from Day 
One....until it starts building its own natural immunity. But something like 
cryptosporidium is not something that is/was commonly found so not even homo 
sapiens were resistant!
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