To date, most samples used to confirm APV infection by molecular amplification are biopsies from large lesions. When lesions are very small, researchers usually avoid obtaining biopsies to avoid injuring birds. Swab collection can avoid this problem, particularly considering the good results shown in our southern Spain samples (78.8%). The lower proportion (four from ten) of positives obtained from swabs collected from cutaneous lesions in house sparrows captured in central Spain may be due to the different swab buffers used between localities. Swabs from southern Spain were conserved in virus transport buffer which likely improves the preservation of the viral genome for molecular analysis while samples from central Spain were stored only in PBS. However, this may represent biases introduced by the individual who collected the samples—note also the variation in results in positive tissue samples from southern Spain (Huelva) (28.6%) and central Spain (all of the five samples analyzed). As such best collection methods merit further investigation.