 |
 |
|
|
|
Looking for books about parrots?
Check out our
Amazon Bookstore
Welcome to our site!!
We hope that you will benefit from the information on our website, as educating people about Proventricular Dilatation Disease (PDD) is one of our 2 main missions.
Avian Health Network (AHN)
is a 501(c)3, non-profit charitable corporation, headquartered and incorporated in the Commonwealth of Virginia. AHN is an organization of volunteers with no paid personnel dedicated to making a positive contribution to the advancement of research into causes, prevention, and treatment of Proventricular Dilatation Disease (PDD). Our mission is twofold: to educate and promote public awareness of this deadly disease and to raise funds to help support PDD research headed by Dr. Branson W. Ritchie, DVM, PhD, Dipl ABVP and ECAMS of the Emerging Diseases Research Group (EDRG) at the University of Georgia's College of Veterinary Medicine.
Proventricular Dilatation Disease (PDD)
is a deadly wasting syndrome that afflicts wild and domesticated birds and parrots worldwide. The symptoms of PDD are varied, its routes are unknown, and its outcome is fatal. There is currently no blood test or non-invasive way to screen for PDD, it just indiscriminately kills our birds.- Read the "Frequently Asked Questions" about PDD and learn more about PDD.
- Read our stories about Living With PDD, you may also visit our PDD Memorial Quilt and read the stories of the birds that are featured there.
PDD can affect all species of psittacine and many non-psittacine species such as passerines and rhamphastids. It is believed to be viral and causes irreversible neural damage to birds of all ages. The carrier state cannot yet be detected.
Until such time when a particular agent that causes PDD is identified and a suitable diagnostic assay developed to identify infected individuals, the infectious status of treated/recovered individuals remains unknown.
In 2005 we completely redesigned our fundraising programs and instead of single yearly fundraiser like "The Challenge" and the "Grey Poop-on Challenge", AHN now sponsors the Annual "Birds of a Feather" Quilt Drawing, Coins for the Cause to StopPDD or Stomp Out PDD.
- Would you like to know what you could do to help?
- Would you like to see the many ways that you can make a donation to AHN to fund PDD research?
- Like to sew or quilt? Join our "Birds of a Feather" Quilt Challenge to StopPDD Yahoo Group. This group includes quilters and all the other volunteers who are helping to make this charity quilt a reality. This is a central meeting place where we can exchange and post information, and collaborate in virtual space.
LATEST NEWS!!! - updated October 16, 2007
|
- If you need support, please join our Yahoo PDD Support Group. The Living with PDD group is a place for anyone whose life has been touched by PDD to share their feelings, information and offer support. If you know of someone you'd like to invite to one of these lists, please ask them to contact us.
