Case Report Vet. Med. – Czech, 50, 2005 (6): 276–280 276 Papillomatosis is rare in wild birds. The most frequent incidence of the disease is among the chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) (Literak et al., 2003). Chaffinches with papillomatosis have been re- ported from the United Kingdom, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden and the Czech Republic (see a review in Literak et al., 2003; Rajchard and Rachac, 2003). In all the cases reported to date, papillo- matous lesions were localized on the legs of the birds where they affected digits and the tarsus. The papilloma showed stages of development from a slight node on a digit to a heavy involvement of the foot and the tarsometatarsus; in severe cases, the tumour might account for 5% of the body weight (Lina et al., 1973). Papillomatous lesions on other parts of the chaf- finch body have never been reported before (Literak et al., 2003). The virus causing papillomatous le- sions on chaffinch legs has been classified as be- longing to the genus Papillomavirus and named Partially supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (Grant No. MSM 6215712402). Support for B.S. was provided by Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic (Grant No. 0002716201); F.D. was supported by the Institutional Research Project No. Z 60220518 from the Institute of Parasitology, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. Co-infection with papillomavirus and Knemidokoptes jamaicensis (Acari: Knemidokoptidae) in a chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs ) and a case of beak papillomatosis in another chaffinch I. LITERAK 1 , B. SMID 2 , F. DUSBABEK 3 , R. HALOUZKA 4 , L. NOVOTNY 4 1 Department of Biology and Wildlife Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, 4 Department of Pathological Morphology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic 2 Veterinary Research Institute, Brno, Czech Republic 3 Institute of Parasitology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic ABSTRACT: Nodular papillomatous lesions combined with proliferation and formation of scales and crusts were observed on both tarsi of a dead chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) found in February 2004 in the eastern part of the Czech Republic. Electron microscopic examination demonstrated the presence of papillomavirus virions in the lesions. The parasitological examination of crust scraps revealed the presence of mites Knemidokoptes jamaicensis. Skin lesions were caused by a co-infection with the two pathogens. This paper is the first report of such a co-infection. In another chaffinch netted in May 2004 in the northern part of the Czech Republic, marked papillomatous lesions were found at the base of the beak. Proliferation of basal epidermal cells with sporadic intranuclear inclusions in the keratinocytes of stratum granulosum of the epidermis observed in the histopathological examination was suggestive of a viral aetiology of the papillomatous lesions. This is the first reported case of beak papillomatosis in the chaffinch. Keywords: bird; Czech Republic; disease; mite; parasite; virus