What is Psittacosis? Psittacosis is a highly contagious disease that can be deadly to birds and dangerous to people, which makes it a serious threat to all bird keepers. But there is no need to fear this dreaded disease, only to understand it and know how to minimise the risks that Psittacosis poses.

Psittacosis is very difficult to diagnose, many birds will carry the bug and actively shed it into their environment without showing any symptoms at all. Birds under stress (Example- newly purchased or fledged birds, birds travelling to sales/shows) will shed more infective bugs than healthy, happy birds. Accurately detecting this bug in birds coming into your aviary is not difficult, it is close to impossible.

Psittacosis in Birds
When a bird begins to display physical symptoms of sickness they are quite ill and require immediate quarantine and treatment. A difficulty of Psittacosis is the range of symptoms it can cause, which vary bird to bird and species to species. Some symptoms include: Lime green droppings, chronic weight loss, fluffed feathers, sore eyes and sudden death. Cockatiels and Neophemas are classic Psittacosis carriers.

Common Psittacosis Carriers Common Symptoms

Psittacosis in People
As mentioned, people can become quite ill from Psittacosis infections. The organism is usually inhaled via infected feather dust or other airborne debris and begins producing flu like symptoms in people some 7-14 days after exposure. Symptoms can include – sore throat, fever, chills, muscle aches, weakness, headaches, nausea and coughing. Diagnosis usually requires a blood test but treatment is luckily quite effective and fast in people. It is very important that susceptible people are aware of the risks when considering purchasing birds. People that fall into this high risk category are: people ill with other diseases, the very young or very old, HIV positive people, pregnant women or those on chemotherapy.

Psittacosis is a sinister disease that can move into our aviaries completely undetected, remaining dormant for long periods, biding its time to strike until your birds are at their most susceptible. Due to the dangers Psittacosis poses for both the bird and the bird keeper, preventative treatments are a must and every bird keeper should at least have some knowledge of how this disease works and what they can do to take the danger out of keeping birds while leaving the enjoyment in.

Being the first company to research, develop, register and release an effective treatment for Psittacosis in Australia, Vetafarm remains the leader in the fight against Psittacosis. Please contact us for any further information on Psittacosis, how to treat or more importantly what you can do minimize or prevent Psittacosis from affecting your valued birds.

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