Ornithosis refers to zoonotic infections and is characterized by a high temperature, pronounced intoxication of the body, damage to the nervous and respiratory systems, as well as an increase in the spleen and liver.
Important information
The causative agent of this disease is a bacterium from the chlamydia family. Infection occurs through the respiratory or digestive tract. Carriers of bacteria are domestic and wild birds.
More often middle-aged or older people are sick, the disease among children is observed much less often.
Infection with ornithosis can occur from a sick person or a bird that is affected by chlamydia.
When ornithosis develops, the symptoms may be atypical. In this case, the disease proceeds without lung damage. An increase in the liver or spleen may be observed. If chlamydia primarily gets on the mucous membranes of the respiratory system, then pneumonia develops with the subsequent spread of the pathogen through the blood, which leads to severe intoxication and viremia. In this case, a typical clinical picture is observed.
Ornithosis: symptoms in humans
The incubation period for this disease lasts 1-3 weeks.
In the acute form of the disease, patients develop fever, chills, and sweating. They complain of insomnia, sometimes nausea or constipation may occur. If ornithosis is diagnosed, the symptoms of this disease in 1-2% of cases include typical manifestations of meningitis.
Often with ornithosis conjunctivitis develops. Patients are depressed, they are lethargic or, conversely, excited. Subsequently, signs of laryngitis or tracheobronchitis appear, a cough is observed. The cardiovascular system is also affected, which leads to the appearance of hypotension, muffled heart tones.
When ornithosis occurs, the symptoms may have a chronic course. In this case, internal organs are affected, chronic bronchitis and persistent cough are diagnosed.
Chlamydial infection in childhood occurs in the form of otitis media, nasopharyngitis, vulvovaginitis or pneumonia. When ornithosis develops in children, the symptoms are typical. Often there are complications in the form of myocarditis, neuritis, inflammation of the liver (hepatitis).
After the disease, a stable immunity is formed for 3 years. Re-infection may occur.
Ornithosis: symptoms in birds
By what signs can it be assumed that the bird develops ornithosis, and that it is dangerous in the epidemiological plan for the people around it?
Chlamydial infection can occur in different ways, sometimes completely asymptomatic. Parrots in the acute period of the disease have a depressed state, they have no reaction to external stimuli. There are signs of asthenia - birds are sleepy, feathers are tousled. Breathing becomes noisy, mucous exudate begins to stand out from the nasal passages, and the litter turns green. Symptoms persist for up to eight days. If there is a fulminant course of ornithosis, then death occurs within a few hours.
In poultry, ornithosis can occur without obvious clinical manifestations. In this case, conjunctivitis and a decrease in fertility are sometimes observed. No other symptoms. In rare cases, the same clinical picture of ornithosis develops as in sick parrots. It should be noted that young individuals carry the disease more difficult, because they develop typical respiratory, digestive or nervous disorders that lead to death.