gates@hpfcdc.HP.COM (Bill Gates) (06/05/91)
Just a general question prompted by the Psittacosis thread in this group: are birds susceptible to human illnesses, like colds, flu, etc? If I have a cold, should I stay away from my conure? Seems like that would be pretty futile, since by the time I know I'm sick, it's usually well spread through- out the house. Thanks, Bill
ooblick@intercon.com (Mikki Barry) (06/07/91)
In article <8140017@hpfcdc.HP.COM>, gates@hpfcdc.HP.COM (Bill Gates) writes: > Just a general question prompted by the Psittacosis thread in this group: > are birds susceptible to human illnesses, like colds, flu, etc? If I have > a cold, should I stay away from my conure? Seems like that would be pretty > futile, since by the time I know I'm sick, it's usually well spread through- > out the house. The simple answer is yes. Birds are predominantly populated with gram positive bacteria. Humans are predominantly populated with gram negative bacteria. Humans transmitting gram negative bacteria of any sort that we carry on and in our bodies, even without adverse affect, may infect your bird if he is under stress, or otherwise lacks the immunity to those bacteria. Common bacteria we transmit to birds include e-coli, staph, strep, klebsiella, pseudomonis, pasturella, etc. etc. An excellent resource for bacterial diseases, their prevention and treatment is the guide on avian medicine and surgery by Harrison and Harrison. It's expensive, but well worth it if you want to get into the nitty gritty of this stuff. Mikki Barry