chris@unislc.uucp (Chris DelPrete) (05/29/91)
Well, the sad news is in. The abused, one-winged cockatiel we took in was
carrying Psittacosis and has infected all of our birds. A couple of questions:
1. What are the symptoms in humans? Details? Experiences?
2. Will we have to treat the baby birds? What is the chance they have been
born with immunity?
3. Is it common for there to be secondary infections? Such as strep?
4. What treatments are you familiar with?
5. I have heard the medicine is hard to store, any information on that?
Any and all help is invited. All I can say is I am glad that we spotted
it and finally figured out what it was.
-- chris
chris@unislcooblick@intercon.com (Mikki Barry) (06/04/91)
In article <1991May29.155928.3660@unislc.uucp>, chris@unislc.uucp (Chris DelPrete) writes: > Well, the sad news is in. The abused, one-winged cockatiel we took in was > carrying Psittacosis and has infected all of our birds. A couple of questions: That is totally typical of cockatiels as they are one of the most common carriers of psittacosis. > 1. What are the symptoms in humans? Details? Experiences? Flu type symptoms that do not respond to normal antibiotics. Chiefly, these symptoms include upper respiratory problems. It goes away in a few days. It's a pain in the butt, but not dangerous except to infants, pregnant women, and the elderly. > 2. Will we have to treat the baby birds? What is the chance they have been > born with immunity? YES, treat them! And immediately. Talk to your vet about baytril injections, or, if your vet isn't quite up on the latest stuff, doxycycline oral medication. But if you use the oral, you MUST use nystatin oral medication to counter yeast infections, AND acidophillus or lactobacillus to give the babies some of their "good" flora back. > 3. Is it common for there to be secondary infections? Such as strep? Yep. Any time the immune system is compromised in a chick, there is a great possibility of secondary infections. If your vet uses baytril, then these secondary infections are prevented or killed as a matter of course. Doxy, however, is a very specific drug that goes to microplasmic infections such as psittacosis and will not be useful for strep or other bacterial based infections. > 4. What treatments are you familiar with? For adults, medicated pellets for 45 days is the old standard. The latest treatment that has come out is baytril (see above) > 5. I have heard the medicine is hard to store, any information on that? Naw. A fridge is fine. > Any and all help is invited. All I can say is I am glad that we spotted > it and finally figured out what it was. Be glad it was psittacosis. It is one of the best known avian diseases and thus vets can cure it pretty easily. Just watch for the secondary stuff and the yeast problems in chicks. Good luck. I've been through this before and had the disease myself. Much better to have that in the aviary than to have one of the nasty viruses with no treatment available. Out of curiosity, how did the vet come to the conclusion of psittacosis? Only one test is accurate in cockatiels for psittacosis and it's the same test used for human clamidya (sp?). The other test used for larger parrots is useful in only 80% of the cases. Necropsy is the only totally reliable method for diagnosing psittacosis. Mikki Barry Natural Intelligence Aviaries