Detection of Chlamydiosis in a Shipment of Pet Birds, Leading to Recognition of an Outbreak of Clinically Mild Psittacosis in Humans

Abstract

Avian chlamydiosis was detected in a shipment of ú700 pet birds from a Florida bird distributor that were sold to nine Atlanta-area pet stores in August 1995. Respiratory illness among persons who had recently acquired birds from this shipment was reported to local public health officials. The attack rate of acute respiratory illness was 10.7% among persons in households exposed to birds from the implicated flock vs. 1.8% among control households (odds ratio, 6.60; 95% confidence interval, 1.39 -31.2). Illness and serological evidence of infection in the absence of symptoms were more common among persons in households with recently purchased birds that were sick or that had died and among persons who had had direct contact with the birds. Clinical psittacosis or serological evidence of Chlamydia psittaci infection was found in 30.7% of households with birds from the infected flock. Mild illnesses and asymptomatic infections in exposed persons were unusual features of this outbreak.

Exacerbation ofChlamydophila psittacipathogenicity in turkeys superinfected byEscherichia coli

“…Devastating outbreaks with high mortality rates, similar to those between 1950 and 1970 in the USA occur occasionally, but respiratory signs without mortality mostly characterise present outbreaks (reviewed in [1]). Nevertheless, C. psittaci causes important economical losses and is a threat to public health since this zoonotic agent is able to infect poultry workers [5,10,15].…”

Use of a nested PCR-enzyme immunoassay with an internal control to detect Chlamydophila psittaciin turkeys

“…Cp. psittaci is also a threat to public health as this zoonotic agent can infect humans and precautions should be taken when handling infected birds or contaminated materials [14-17]. Human infections are common following handling or processing of infected turkeys or ducks [2,7,8,18].…”

Chlamydia species and Mycoplasma pneumoniae

“…It is underrecognized because of difficulties in its diagnosis, but active case-finding after possible exposure to infected birds can greatly increase recognition [7]. On the other hand, no avian exposure can be documented for up to one third of diagnosed cases.…”