Psittacosis Europe in 1879. In 1929, a highly publicized outbreak of psittacosis hit the United States. Although not the first report of psittacosis in the United States, it was the largest up to that time. It led to greater controls on the import of pet parrots. The aftermath of the outbreak and how it was handled led to the establishment of the National Institutes of Health. From 2002 through 2009, 66 human cases of psittacosis were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and most resulted from exposure to infected pet birds, usually cockatiels, parakeets, and macaws. Many more
Feral pigeon that wild birds would encounter in nature. "We couldn't infect the pigeons," Swayne said. "So that's good news." However, other contagion besides bird flu are transmitted by pigeons. For example, the bacteria "Chlamydophila psittaci" is endemic among pigeons and causes psittacosis in humans. It is generally transmitted from handling pigeons or their droppings (more commonly the latter). Psittacosis is a serious disease but rarely fatal (less than 1%). Pigeons are also important vectors for different species of the bacteria "Salmonella", which causes diseases as salmonellosis and paratyphoid fever. They are also known to host avian mites, which can infest human