Psittacosis singer Philip Selway. Lena Rose Pepperdine died in 1930 of parrot fever. She was the first wife of George Pepperdine, the founder of Pepperdine University. Psittacosis Psittacosis—also known as parrot fever, and ornithosis—is a zoonotic infectious disease caused by a bacterium called "Chlamydophila psittaci" and contracted from infected parrots, such as macaws, cockatiels, and budgerigars, and pigeons, sparrows, ducks, hens, gulls and many other species of birds. The incidence of infection in canaries and finches is believed to be lower than in psittacine birds. In certain contexts, the word is used when the disease is carried by any species of
White band disease the Caribbean region, white band disease in the Indo-Pacific region has been found on approximately 34 species of massive, branching and plating corals instead of just simply Elkhorn and Staghorn corals. White band disease is highly contagious through direct contact between diseased and healthy coral tissue. It can also be transmitted by the corallivorous snail, which means that the species consumes coral, "Coralliophila abbreviata". "C. abbreviata", a species native to the region where Elkhorn and Staghorn corals are found, is able to act as a "reservoir" for white band disease, meaning that it is able to retain the disease pathogen