The Nome daily nugget., 1936-01-24

M O G parrot to man. Is i@@ another example of a pets ailment that can be fatal to 1 its master or mistress. But unlike the mad dog, the sick parrot is not aggressive and hence is not so dan l gerous.
 disease of parrots In which the birds are in stupor, are weak and 1 have diarrhea is an old observation, but the first recognized instance of this disease being transmitted to man was in Europe.
 Professor Nocard of Paris about 1879 found that this disease in parrots was caused by germ yer. similar to the germs which cause d;arrEea in man. This germ belongs to family Of bac. teria which is widespread f. nature and causes diarrhea in many animals. Parrot fever was little known In the United States until the fall o. 1929, when several cases appeared along the Atlantic seaboard. The cases grew into a mild epidemic and ap, peared in 45 different places throughout the country. In all, there were 169 cases reported. of which B resulted fatally. The infections were definitely associated with direct contact with birds that had been imported into New York during November and De. cember of 1929, and then shipped to other places.
 The time elapsing between contact with the sick parrot and the onset of the disease is given as six to fifteen days. The disease in man runs a course similar to influenza or typhoid fever. Sometimes the disease proc. esses are mainly in the chest as in influenza and sometimes they are in the abdomen and resemble typhoid fe. yer. Of the 169 cases reported 1O7 were females and 62 were males. This was probably because more women than men take care of birds. The older the individual the more serious is parrot fever Most of the deaths occurred among persons over forty.
 January 24, 1880, an embargo was placed against the importation of parrots. October 2l, 1850, this was modified to allow the importation of parrots if they were quarantined for 15 days at the port of entry, In Feb ruary, 1882, this quarantine period was extended to all birds of the parrot l family.
 During the year 1931, twelve cases of parrot fever were reported from New York and 43 cases from the Pa cific coast states. There were 13 deaths among these 5 cases. Most of these infections were contracted from sick parokeets and love birds. Raising | parokeets is an industry in several | places along the Pacific coast. Investi. gations showed that many of these parokeet aviaries were infected with psittacosis. Another very important discovery was made and that is that healthy birds can carry with them the causative agent of parrot fever.
 We do not know of any specific vac cine or antiserum with which to treat successfully the human patient suffer ing from parrot fever. Several bac- teriologists who have worked upon parrot fever have become infected, and there have been few deaths. A very good friend of mine, Doctor Stokes of the Baltimore health department, died of this disease while doing research work during the 1929-1930 epidemic.
 Since this disease cannot be con. trolled by the relatively simple meth cd of embargo and quarantine al the ports of entry, 1t becomes menace to persons who desire members of the parrot family for pets.
 The disea.e is more prevalent in birds during cold weather, and recent ly acquired birds are more dangerous than birds that have been in the tani.y for some time. The practice of allow ing birds 10 feed from the hands is ex- trenely dangerous.
 Any sickness in birds of the parrot family in the home should be regarded with suspicion. The cages should be kept clean and tine cleaning done out of-doors to prevent the dust flying about the room. The cages should be left in the sunlight until the moisture has dried. Until we know more about parrot fever 1t Is best to isolate the human cases of this disease and to carry out the ordinary measures of bedside nursing that are pursued in all infectious diseases.
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