Animals: Parrot-Disease

In Buenos Aires a company of nine actors supporting Florencio Parravicini, famed Argentine comedian, were playing a comedy. Included in the cast was a parrot who took the part of a sailor’s pet. One by one the company sickened. An actor and an actress died. Alarmed physicians were at a loss for a diagnosis. The symtoms were simple: nausea, constipation, a fever preceded by a chill. Then the parrot too lost appetite, moulted, became diarrhetic, died. The doctors examined him, pronounced his death due to psittachosis—parrot-disease. They warned parrot-owners that this infection would kill their pets and themselves as well. Parrots thus diseased must be segregated or killed. Health officials were surprised to find the case in Argentina. It is usually confined to more northern parts of South America, where parrots are plentiful