1929, córdoba and tucumán in argentina, reported over 100 cases of a severe atypical pneumonia linked to a large shipment of birds from brazil. one of the outbreaks occurred among an argentine theatrical group in october 1929, after they had purchased an amazon parrot in buenos aires. two of the actors died from the illness. florencio parravicini, the main male actor, contracted the disease and according to the hearst, recovered after suffering significantly for 17 days. cases in argentina followed a number of auctions that took place in several cities, with owners selling a number of sick birds as quickly as possible. in response, the argentine parrot trade was stopped and pet owners were cautioned by authorities to look out for sick birds and report them. however, dishonest traders continued to sell sick birds to visitors to its seaports. the cases were reported in an argentinian journal in november 1929 and later picked up by sensational american press. countries affected there were no reported cases in brazil. the disease was reported in: algeria argentina australia austria canada czechoslovakia denmark egypt france germany honolulu italy japan mexico netherlands poland spain sweden switzerland united kingdom united states birds involved meyer later demonstrated that psittacosis could be transmitted by around 50 species of birds. birds implicated in the 1929–30 pandemic included: amazon parrots (amazona species) canary (serinus canaria) lovebirds (agapornis species) shell parakeets (australian budgerigars, melopsittacus undulatus). talking parrots grey parrots (psittacus erithacus) thrushes gallery canary (serinus canaria) budgerigar (melopsittacus undulatus) peach-faced lovebird (agapornis roseicollis) orange-winged amazon (amazona amazonica) african grey parrot (psittacus erithacus)