One Eyed Cold Syndrome in a Pigeon

One eyed cold, a common clinical entity in pigeons, is a non-specific disease also known by breeders within synonyms as “eye-cold”, “opthalmia” and “ big eye”. It may be classified as an eye infection. The condition is usually limited to one eye . The probable causes are nonspecific and multifactorial . Vitamin A deficiency may be involved in some cases . Swollen eyelids with conjunctivitis and watery ocular discharge may also occur in association with ornithosis, pox, Mycoplasma spp., Haemophilus spp., and PHV1, trichomoniasis and PMV-1 infections. In typical “one-eyed cold” disease, unlikely to all of those aformetioned infections, only the eyes are affected and lesions do not spread . A bird suffering from one eyed cold must be immediately isolated . The cause of such uncomplicated “eye-colds” is unknown, indeed many diseases respond to local treatment with antibiotic eye ointments .