Chlamydial infections in animals
Chlamydophila psittaci in birds: History
Recognition of human chlamydiosis and its association with exotic or psittacine birds
[psittacosis] first arose in the 1870s (Morange,
1895).
The pandemic of 1929-1930 drew attention to the hazardous potential of avian chlamydial infections as life-threatening zoonoses
in humans, with human case fatality rates of 20% at a time which pre-dated antibiotics. These epidemics were most likely brought about by the increasing popularity of cage birds, and particularly psittacine species, as household pets.
From the mid-1940s, C. psittaci infections in poultry (particularly ducks and turkeys) caused economic losses to the poultry industry but also represented, as
zoonotic infections, important occupational hazards to poultry processing plant workers. In the 1950s, there were widespread
outbreaks in turkeys in the USA and in ducks, geese, turkeys and chickens in Eastern Europe, which subsequently declined
(Storz, 1988).
Since the 1960s, there has generally been a low incidence of human chlamydial infections derived from avian sources in Europe and the USA. About 800 cases, mainly associated with psittacine birds, were reported in the USA for the period 1987-1996
(Schachter, 1999).
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