Do you have experience with PBFD?

I got two peach-faced lovebirds (Lupita & Tito) in August 2012 and in April of this year added a baby dutch blue I got at the bird expo (Rita). I had already separated Lupita & Tito because Lupita pulled out a bunch of his feathers, so I put Rita in with Tito. They got along fine. (I was ignorant of quarantine procedure at the time.)

A few weeks later, Tito got really sick. Barely able to walk, all ruffled up all the time. And his feathers had started to come in weird. My vet diagnosed Tito with PBFD. I kept him in a little hospital cage and spent a lot of money treating him but he did not recover and died July 1.

Here's the weird part - Rita never got sick. My vet thinks she is a carrier. Does anyone have experience testing carriers for PBFD--would it show up? I am terrified that Lupita will get it even though they are in separate cages and I am very careful about using separate dishes, toys, etc, and washing my hands after touching Rita's cage.

Also - quarantining would not have helped in this case since Rita never got sick - how would I ensure that a new lovebird I brought in was not a carrier?

Thanks for any replies!

Yes, I spoke with the pathologist at Avian Biotech and he said it is more common than you might think to have cage mates and one die from PBFD and the other be completely healthy. Go to their website and call or email for them to send you one of their testing kits (free). Ask to talk to the pathologist and see what collections, if any, he'd like you to send. They are very nice and helpful there!
Avian Services Center: DNA sexing and disease testing for all species of birds.

Thanks TW!