PSITTACOSIS REPORT

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 22, 21 October 1937, Page 8

PSITTACOSIS REPORT

No Immediate Action By Health Department POSSIBLE AUCKLAND CASE No action will be taken by the Health Department in connection with the report that an Auckland woman s death was accompanied by symptoms of psittacosis, it was learned yesterday, until the investigation of the case is completed. An official of the department referred to the rarity of the disease in the Dominion and to the current prohibition of the importation of birds of the parrot family. These factors, he said, made it advisable to treat the report with some reserve in the meantime. There was nothing to be gained by alarming owners of parrots and budgerigars, and he thought It quite unneces»ry to discuss possible precautions. A thorough investigation was being carried out by officials of the department at Auckland and when the result came to hand a statement would be issued.

There was no question of the possibility of an epidemic of psittacosis. There had been no reported case of it among birds in New Zealand since the prohibition in 1030 of importations. In Australia, where it was discovered that native birds had the disease, some concern was felt At first a visible organism was thought to be the source, but the disease had since been traced to microscopic bacteria. According to bird dealers who were approached, the popularity of budgerigars is still exceptional. The disease of psittacosis, it was stated, was so rare that few breeders gave it any thought In one quarter, however, doubt was expressed as to the correctness of the Auckland doctor’s description of the symptoms shown by the birds, the breeder recalling from memory only that psittacosis was accompanied by loss of feathers near the eyes. The signs mentioned in the report, loss of appetite, drowsiness, drooping of .wings and so on would accompany nearly every bird complaint. It was thought that a good deal would depend on the investigation into the condition of the birds concerned. One point was that a budgerigar usually died suddenly. In nine cases out of 10 there would be little or no sign of trouble. Unless the birds in this case could be shown to have been bred from imported birds or to have contacted them, it would be difficult to imagine a case of psittacosis. So far there was only an inference that the complaint was contracted from birds in the first place. Asked whether he could say that the prohibition against importing parrots and budgerigars was successful, a dealer said he thought a good many birds were smuggled into the country. The port of‘Auckland, for example, would find it hard to exercise supervision over the sailors from the large number of Japanese ships which called there. Nevertheless, it had yet to be shown that the particular budgerigars had an opportunity of contracting the disease.

Early in 1930 an epidemic of deaths among parrots occurred, especially in Christchurch, and was declared to be caused by psittacosis. The result was an Order-in-Council prohibiting imports of parrots. Budgerigars are of the same family. A good many authorities on parrots, however, declared them to have died from other causes,, and pointed out that for years parrots had died at exceptionally heavy rates after arrival in the Dominion.