Genetic data associated with avian keratin disorder and Poecivirus in black-capped chickadees, Alaska, 2016-2017

This dataset contains results of genetic screening for Poecivirus from samples of black-capped chickadees (BCCH; Poecile atricapillus) with and without clinical signs of avian keratin disorder (AKD). Data include information on detection/non-detection of the virus in tissue collected with buccal swabs, cloacal swabs, blood samples, and fecal samples from up to 124 individuals between 2015 and 2017 from various locations in southcentral Alaska. For an additional 17 symptomatic (and one asymptomatic) individual(s) collected between 2001 and 2015 in the same region, data include measurements of viral load in beak tissue measured by qRT-PCR as well as the amount of actively replicating virus detected by 7 negative-strand and 2 positive-strand oligonucleotide probes, all relative to amounts of host RNA. Ancillary data on beak measurements, clinical signs of AKD (beak overgrowth or hyperkeratosis at the cellular level), locations, and dates of collection are also included for each individual.