GC: n
S: CDC – https://www.cdc.gov/psittacosis/about/index.html (last access: 20 September 2024); NCBI – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK538305/ (last access: 20 September 2024).
N: 1. New Latin, from Latin psittacus.
- The first known use of psittacosis was in 1896.
- An infectious disease of birds caused by a bacterium (Chlamydia psittaci synonym Chlamydophila psittaci), marked by diarrhea and wasting, and transmissible to humans in whom it occurs as a flu-like illness often accompanied by pneumonia. Called also ornithosis, parrot fever.
2. Also known as: ornithosis, parrot fever.
-
psittacosis, infectious disease of worldwide distribution caused by the bacterial parasite Chlamydia psittaci and transmitted to humans from various birds. The infection has been found in about 70 different species of birds. However, the principal sources of human infection are pet birds, such as parrots and parakeets (Psittacidae, from which the disease is named), as well as ducks and geese and poultry, particularly turkeys.
-
The association between the human disease and sick parrots was first recognized in Europe in 1879, although a thorough study of the disease was not made until 1929–30, when severe outbreaks, attributed to contact with imported parrots, occurred in 12 countries of Europe and America. During the investigations conducted in Germany, England, and the United States, the causative agent was revealed. Strict regulations followed concerning importation of psittacine birds, which undoubtedly reduced the incidence of the disease but did not prevent the intermittent appearance of cases. The infection was later found in domestic stocks of parakeets and pigeons and subsequently in other species. Infected turkeys, ducks, or geese have caused many cases among poultry handlers or workers in processing plants.
-
Psittacosis usually causes only mild symptoms of illness in birds and humans. Humans usually contract the disease by inhaling dust particles contaminated with the excrement of infected birds. The bacterial parasite thus gains access to the body and multiplies in the blood and tissues. In humans, psittacosis may cause high fever and pneumonia. Other symptoms include chills, weakness, head and body aches, and an elevated respiratory rate.
-
Before modern antibiotic drugs became available, the case fatality rate was approximately 20 percent, but penicillin and the tetracycline drugs reduced this figure almost to zero. Although uncommon, complications such as endocarditis or nerve inflammation can occur, typically requiring hospital care.
3. Animal Diseases; Birds; Bacterial Diseases; CBRNE Weapons: psittacosis, parrot fever, parrot disease.
- An infectious disease in psittacine birds [parrots, budgerigars, lovebirds, parakeets, macaws, cockatiels, etc.] and [humans] caused by the bacterium Chlamydia psittaci.
4. Animal Diseases; Birds; Bacterial Diseases; CBRNE Weapons: psittacosis, parrot fever, parrot disease.
- People can be infected by breathing in the bacteria from shed feathers, secretions and droppings from infected birds, by not washing their hands well after touching the feathers of sick birds, by touching their mouths to the birds’ beaks, by being bitten by a sick bird, or through an open skin lesion.
- Person-to-person transmission is rare although it can occur with coughing during the acute illness.
- In birds other than those related to the parrot family, this disease is called ornithosis.
- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) list this disease as a potential biological weapon (Category B) used by terrorists.
5. Medicine – Infectious disease: psittacosis, parrot disease, parrot fever.
- Psittacosis refers to disease of the psittacine birds (the parrot family) caused by the bacterium Chlamydia psittaci, formerly referred to as Bedsonia.
Ornithosis refers to disease caused by the same organism in birds of other orders.
Hence, the terms indicate different hosts of a common agent and not different diseases, although the strains responsible for ornithosis appear to be less virulent for man than those from psittacine birds. The continued use of the two terms, however, is unnecessarily confusing.
Morange introduced the term psittacosis (parrot fever) in 1894 for a clinical illness seen in human beings after contact with psittacine birds.
S: 1. MW – https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/psittacosis (last access: 20 September 2024). 2. EncBrit – https://www.britannica.com/science/psittacosis (last access: 20 September 2024). 3 & 4. TERMIUM PLUS – https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=psittacosis&index=alt&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs (last access: 20 September 2024). 5. GDT – https://vitrinelinguistique.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/fiche-gdt/fiche/8384729/infectiologie (last access: 20 September 2024).
SYN: parrot fever, parrot disease.
S: TERMIUM PLUS – https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=psittacosis&index=alt&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs (last access: 20 September 2024)
