A rare illness resembling influenza that is caused by the microorganism CHLAMYDIA PSITTACI. The disease is contracted by inhaling dust containing the droppings of infected birds, such as pigeons or poultry. Most cases occur among poultry farmers, pigeon owners, and people working in pet shops. Common symptoms are severe headache, fever, and cough, developing a week or more after infection. Other symptoms may include muscle pains, sore throat, nosebleed, lethargy, depression, and, in some cases, breathing difficulty.
A diagnosis is made by finding antibodies against CHLAMYDIA PSITTACI in the blood. Treatment is with tetracycline antibiotic drugs. With no treatment, death may result.
Also called parrot disease. An infectious disease of parrots and other exotic birds which may be transmitted to humans and is caused by the micro-organism Chlamydia psittaci. It presents as PNEUMONIA or a systemic illness in which the patient has an enlarged spleen and liver and PNEUMONITIS. Tetracycline is an e?ective treatment, but relapses may occur.
(parrot disease, ornithosis) n. an endemic infection of birds, especially parrots, budgerigars, canaries, finches, pigeons, and poultry, caused by a small intracellular bacterium, Chlamydia psittaci. The birds are often asymptomatic carriers. The infection is transmitted to humans by inhalation from handling the birds or by contact with feathers, faeces, or cage dust, but person-to-person transmission also occurs. The symptoms include fever, dry cough, severe muscle pain, and headache; occasionally a severe generalized systemic illness results. The condition responds to tetracycline or erythromycin.
A genus of micro-organisms which include those responsible for NON-SPECIFIC URETHRITIS (NSU), ORNITHOSIS, PSITTACOSIS and TRACHOMA. Chlamydia trachomitis can be sexually transmitted by both men and women and in developed countries is the most signi?cant cause of NSU. Chlamydia and Neisseria gonorrhoea (see GONORRHOEA) are the major cause of PELVIC INFLAMMATORY DISEASE (PID) which affects around 100,000 women a year in the UK, most of whom are under 25 years of age. Chlamydia does not usually cause symptoms unless it spreads to the upper genital tract; such spread, however, may cause miscarriage (see PREGNANCY AND LABOUR) or ECTOPIC PREGNANCY. The number of diagnoses of chlamydia has doubled in the past ?ve years and the incidence of ectopic pregnancies has also been rising. The infection may well be the main preventable cause of ectopic pregnancy, one estimate being that no fewer than half of such pregnancies are linked to chlamydia infection – a ?gure that is probably much higher in young women. A preventive campaign in Sweden found that over 15 years, the incidence of ectopic pregnancies fell at the same rate as that of chlamydia diagnoses. Chlamydia infection responds well to antibiotic treatment, but education of the public about this often ‘silent’ infection, coupled with screening programmes, would go a long way to reducing the incidence.... chlamydia
A wide-spectrum, long-acting antibiotic which is active against a range of micro-organisms, including the causative organisms of scrub typhus (see under TYPHUS FEVER), TRACHOMA, PSITTACOSIS, LYME DISEASE and some in?uenzas.... doxycycline
any one of a group of community-acquired *pneumonias that do not respond to penicillin but do respond to such antibiotics as tetracycline and erythromycin. They include infection with Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Chlamydia psittaci (see psittacosis), and Coxiella burnetii (see Q fever).... atypical pneumonia
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