Unusual parrot fever or parrot disease is a rare infectious disease that can cause pneumonia in humans. This disease, largely transmitted by birds or chickens, is caused by chlamydia (a type of intracellular parasite closely associated with bacteria).
Parrots, macaws and cocats are all common. Other species that can infect Chlamydia include pigeons, cowboys, and turkeys.
What is parrot heat?
Parrot fever is a disease affecting over 400 birds and some mammals, caused by bacteria such as Chlamydia psittaci, which infect birds and other birds.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there have been 10 or fewer parrot fever in the United States each year since 2010. However, the symptoms of parrot fever are similar to other diseases, so they are often not diagnosed.
Parrot fever infectious
Mediators such as food or water vessels, airborne particles, feathers, feces, and other objects that come in contact with birds in parrot heat become mediators of all healthy birds. At the same time, infected birds are infected with this disease even when they are in the same room that is not ventilated.
In humans, they are directly exposed to the feces of infected birds and are transmitted to the parrot fever. This can happen most often when cleaning a cage or handling infected birds. Parrot fever may be directly transmitted from a person infected with fever, but it is very rare. It can be done when a person sick in a parrot cough is coughing and sucking in fine airborne droplets.
In some varieties, such as nakuru, the parrot fever is spread through eggs. Clown parrots are parrot heat parasites and spread bacteria through feces.
Symptoms of parrot fever in birds
In the case of birds, parrot fever causes a variety of symptoms. But it can be hard to notice and can be deactivated in a new body. Birds infected with parrot fever may have no symptoms, but when stressed, they can cause symptoms such as lethargy, anorexia, weight loss, nasal discharge, and hepatomegaly. And diarrhea and respiratory disease can occur. Birds infected through bacterial exposure begin to show symptoms three days later, while birds that carry bacteria can be sick at any time.
And diseases vary according to the type of organism. Therefore, symptoms of gastrointestinal diseases as well as respiratory symptoms may occur. In particular, varieties such as parrots have neurological symptoms that can lead to seizures, head, body and neck. In the case of the peony parrot, no symptoms appear. The incubation period usually takes from three days to several weeks.
Symptoms of parrot fever
Symptoms of parrot fever in humans are similar to flu and pneumonia. Symptoms appear from about 10 days after exposure to the virus, but may progress rapidly within a few days. Symptoms include high fever and headache, chills, loss of appetite, cough, and fatigue. More severe cases can lead to pneumonia or respiratory diseases. It is most likely that people working in pet shops or raising birds are the most likely to catch.
Diagnosis of pet parrot fever
It is necessary to confirm the existence of Chlamydia citacillus because the symptoms of parrot fever may show different symptoms for each breed. Bird specialist veterinarians can recommend histology, nucleic acid and antigen detection, serum testing and culture testing. Sometimes more than one test is required.
Bacteria can be detected in various parts of the body such as bird's excreta, liver, lung, kidney, spleen, and excreta. Birds with symptoms are easier to diagnose than birds with no symptoms. Sometimes, several samples of excreta may be needed to detect bacteria.
The fastest and preferred method for detecting chlamydia organisms is the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. Blood tests alone are possible, but blood tests can cause problems when interpreting the results.
Parrot heat therapy
Fortunately, there are many ways to treat parrot fever. Because birds can not accept antibiotics as safely as other animals, they usually prescribe a tetracycline antibiotic, doxycycline, for 45 days. If the bird does not have Chlamydia citrus in its body, it may prescribe antibiotics in the sulfonamide group.