Fears of a bird pox outbreak in Otago waxeyes have been cast into doubt by Dunedin's wildlife hospital and the Department of Conservation.
Otago Museum entomologist Anthony Harris last week received nine reports from the public of what he said was ``unmistakably'' bird pox, or Avipoxvirus, on waxeyes.
This was after his column Nature File in last week's Otago Daily Times.
A Doc spokesman said yesterday its Dunedin office was not aware of a potential outbreak.
``Incidents of this sort would normally be treated as a natural event, in which case Doc does not routinely intervene.''
Dunedin Wildlife Hospital vet Lisa Argilla said no cases had come through the hospital.
She questioned whether there was an outbreak or just a few observed cases.
``The disease is endemic in New Zealand and is reasonably common in silvereyes.''
Bird pox could be a conservation concern as it could spread to other more threatened birds, such as saddlebacks.
There was a dry form of the disease, from which birds were more likely to recover and develop long-lasting immunity. The diphtheritic or ``wet'' form had a higher mortality rate.
``My advice would be to keep feeders spotless and clean everything daily to reduce the virus.''
Mr Harris said the correspondence was from Lawrence, Mosgiel, parts of Dunedin and Waitati, and seemed to show a ``severe outbreak''.
