The Spread of Parrot Fever

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 946, 12 April 1930, Page 18

The Spread of Parrot Fever

Precautions Against The Disease

SHE number of cases of “parrot fever,” which Rave recently been reported from all parts of I tbe world has alarmed ' a great many people. And so pretty Polly, the pet of the household, long ago the thunderbird levered by certain tribes of early j American Indians, is being called a > bird of ill omen, a dealer of death. Psittacosis, or parrot fever, is well j known to the medical profession. The symptoms of the disease resemble ; those of typhoid-pneumonia, and are i often diagnosed as typhoid, in- : fluenza, pneumonia or as malarial fever. Although it is highly dangerous, jiarticularly to old people, the disease is not highly contagious except from sick birds and its spread can easily be controlled by the elimination of sick parrots. Not only is the disease a menace to man, but it has proved quite a serious problem for pet fanciers. In October several cases were re- j ported from Buenos Aires, where it was said that four persons, members of a theatrical troupe, had died of the disease after having caressed a pet parrot owned bjr one of the troupe.

Cases have also been reported since j that time from Prague, in Czecho- j Slovakia, and from Hamburg and j Dresden. And recently In New Zea-1 land a shipment of parrots has come ] under suspicion. Psittacosis was first recognised in j Germany and apparently the parrot is i the only carrier of the disease. Other | animals, mainly pigeons, rabbits, l guinea pigs and dogs, have been ini oeulated and have developed the di- | sease in laboratories, but only fol- : lowing inoculation. The disease sometimes affects several members of a family, all of whom have handled a j parrot carrying the disease, and the i complaint is especially dangerous to | persons having a pre-existing heart or ( kidney trouble, obesity or diabetic i condition. . . '*’■ diagnosis is not easy without a | history of association with sick parrots except in case of an epidemic, i v. hen the disease is in the forefront of j public attention. ! . T he in „ cuba tion period of the disease I 19 from 8 to 12 days in man and runs j us course in about three weeks. The i lateI ate llas been variously .| estimated from about 35 per cent, to

50 per cent, or higher for elderly people. The treatment is in general that 0. other typhoid conditions, with especU' precautions to guard against pumonary complications. One of the most fatal epidemics of parrot fever occurred in Paris in 189following a shipment of parrotst from South America to France. Three hundred of a .shipment of 500 birds hM died In -transit. From the remaining number 49 cases among human beings developed, 16 of them being fatalThere were outbreaks of parrot fever in New Hampshire in 1904 an in England in 1914. Coincident wi the outbreak in Paris in 1892 there was a sporadic outbreak in Engl* o Dr. T. P Beddoes tells of two interesting cases which he was able recognise because the niece of ? ue h a the patients insisted that “ Aan ': l ® , the same disease the parrot bad n • An aunt and niece had been take and showed symptoms of pneum • it developed upon investigation the brother of the young patient, was an officer on a tramp st ® a ™ . had brought home a parrot whicn been with other parrots in care sailors. One sailor on the voyage gone to tile hospital in Bordeaux another at Liverpool -j When the parrot arrived it see , . out of condition, but never at any did it seem likely to die. When tne patients became ill, the I,n r h „ fnr e killed and the body disposed ot D the physicians knew that there keen a parrot in the house, special feature of the case was -j er marked prostration of the 0 woman and the severity of th® condition which brought a c° ut death. The younger woman recover During the present epidemic public has repeatedly been against the purchase of new j _ 2er ported parrots. There is no dans from those which have become do ticated. .-.air The remedy against such pP®* 8 outbreaks in the future lies, ot in measures for detaining the biro j quarantine to determine whetne , not they are infected with the S But the control of the disease a g. ; human beings ought not t 0 . ..don. cult, nor the epidemic of long dur»» »