"PARROT DISEASE”

Evening Star, Issue 21716, 10 May 1934, Page 11

"PARROT DISEASE”

VACCINE DISCOVERED NEW YORK, April 28. The discovery of a vaccine for psittacosis, or “ parrot disease,” is announced by Dr Thomas Rivers, of the Rockefeller Institute of Medical Research. The virus,' filterable, was found in the sputum of human beings who had recovered from the disease, and experiments were first done with mice. Later seven laboratory workers allowed themselves to be vaccinated with the.' live virus, five or six doses being administered intramuscularly, the first 10,000 times the power of a lethal dose for a mouse, and the last 10,000,000 times the quantity. Dr Rivers explained that the pneumonia which develops in cases of psittacosis is due to the virus itself, and not to a secondary development, as had been believed. [Psittacosis is a rather rare disease, with an occasional slight epidemic, which brings it into temporary prominence. It is a disease of birds, especially parrots, and is highly contagious from bird to man, but not nearly so contagious from man to man. It causes general blood poisoning, great weakness, and depression. The disease has a high mortality, more than 20 per cent.]